Holly Beach: “The Un-resort Beach”
AKA: The Cajun Riviera
Known as the Cajun Riviera, Holly Beach is popular with families from Louisiana and Southeast Texas alike.
Whether you are looking to enjoy sun, crabbing, fishing, or shell collecting, Holly Beach is a great option. Veteran beachcombers say there are many varieties of shells on Holly Beach we can’t find in Texas. Most Southeast Texas shells are fairly small. On Holly Beach, many are larger than your hand.
Nature lovers, keep an eye out for dolphins. You can regularly see them from the beach – and occasionally a rare albino dolphin.
Bird Watchers: Look for Black Ibis, White Ibis, Great Blue Herons, Snowy Egrets, Skimmers, Marsh Hens, Frigate Birds, Brown Pelicans, White Pelicans, and other coastal species. During migration, Holly Beach is also a good place to see visiting ducks, geese, and butterflies.
Most beaches get dirty from time to time, but at Holly Beach, the local sheriff conducts regular clean up sessions.
Many families extend their stay tent camping on the beach or bringing their RV. Rental homes and trailers are also available.
Four wheelers and side by sides are welcome.
This is a remote beach, so bring your own food and drink. If you’ll be staying awhile, bring a folding table and grill. They do not have a lot of restaurant options like Corpus Christi or Galveston.
What this Louisiana beach offers: Solitude with a rare, undeveloped beach. Experts say this is the best shelling beach within our region. There are no guarantees, but the water can be clear and pretty. The water is also pretty shallow with lots of sandbars. At night, look for dinoflagellates that make the water glow.
What this Louisiana beach doesn’t offer families: Restaurants, grocery stores, shopping. Stock up on supplies in Port Arthur or Hackberry.
Holly Beach Fishing Report: Surf fishing can be strong, especially for redfish. Consistently high quality crabbing is available a few minutes from the beach. Crab can be caught with the classic “chicken on a string”, trot lines for crabs, or in crab traps in the nearby bayous.
Crab can be cooked right on the beach using a grill, boiling, or using the same kind of propane fryer you use for your Thanksgiving turkey.
You can also catch speckled trout, founder, Spanish mackerel, black drum, red drum (redfish), and sharks.
This is surf fishing, so we recommend: Sand spikes (available from Academy), the taller the better, long rods, and surf weights (spider weights are more common locally. The triangle weights popular near Corpus Christi and Rockport also work well).
Best live / dead bait for fishing Holly Beach: Frozen squid stays on your hook and can take a pounding from the waves. Large pieces of mullet, lady fish, or croaker are also great. If you can get them, live or frozen shrimp work well for inshore species anywhere on the Gulf Coast. Shrimp doesn’t always stay on the hook well, live typically stays on in the surf better than frozen.
When you are all set, your surf fishing setup for Holly Beach (or anywhere you’re fishing directly on the beach) will look something like this:
We hope you have enjoyed today’s Louisiana Road Trip guide to Holly Beach.
Are you looking for more family friendly vacation ideas?
Stay tuned!
- Daryl Fant, Publisher Southeast Texas Family Magazine
- (512) 567-8068
- SETXAdvertising@gmail.com
Holly Beach Louisiana is a great road trip destination for Texas and Louisiana families looking for long, empty beaches, lots of shells we don’t have in Texas, and a chance to getaway from the crowding you find at other area beaches.
