Baffin or POC for first timerat

I'm figuring out a trip for this Fall. I have a 19 CC that I'll be taking. I'll be spending the first week in Rockport but am trying to decide where else to go-POC or Baffin. I've heard Baffin can be intimidating for a novice while POC will be very similar to Rockport. Time frame will be in late September. I'd be curious to what people's thoughts are-another location would be Port Mansfield.

Tunnel hull?
If not you’re screwed at Mansfield.
POC has more choices on deep/flats.

You can get around the Laguna Madre / Baffin just fine with a center console. Choose your path wisely in Baffin, though.

Mansfield in a V hull? You're pretty restricted where you can go pards.

Yes-it is an aluminum CC and no tunnel. I've fished POC before and it would also seem more fishable even when windy.

Out of those selections and that boat... I would agree with POC.

Baffin does take some time to learn and it can get really ugly with the winds down there.. granted fall usually isnt too bad with the winds.

Putting in at birds island on the laguna madre would be a great place to fish. Fishing the flats along the ship channel has produced for me through out the day. A trolling motor makes this easier.

You can also make some good drifts towards the king ranch shoreline. This area of water allows you to use the channel
to go north and south and venture west or east at an idle to drift/wade/troll.

Once you get near the mouth of baffin I would be careful as that is where the rocks begin to show up, around "the badlands" and "Twin palms". I am am being pretty general in explaining that, get a top spot map, there is a line that actually says rocks begin here...lol

If you do decide to use the channel to go into baffin, stay in it, that is where a lot of rocks are. A good map will show you what I mean. Only idle out of the channel, they call the bad lands that for a reason.

But between lets say bluffs landing and just before twin palms there is tons of safe accessiable water to fish for your boat.

Btw the top spot map should only be used as a general reference not as a navigation tool
No map will show all the rocks in Baffin. If in doubt idle.

I used to launch my old startron at bird island and run down to Baffin it was fun as heck but we would be putt-putting all the way in from the ICW. Those rocks are monsters so go slow if you go.

Thanks a bunch for this post. I have navionics and it is not that far down there from bird island. I noticed that when we were there over Memorial day, it was very quiet-we were in Rockport though.

Navtronics is a good card. But no map, no card, no guide, no person, knows where all the rocks are in Baffin. If you haven't ran a stretch of water outside the channel, idle it first. I was told this by many experienced fisherman that fished baffin primarily. That is exactly how I learned how to navigate baffin and I still am doing it in new places.

POC I used to fish there for the whole month of June and there are tons of spots that hold fish but all depend on wind and tide. We've never been skunked in Port O.

Late September in POC is great! So many options...Depending on the winds - which are typically down in the Fall - you could even run through Pass Cavallo and fish the Gulf.

I grew up between Rockport and Aransas Pass..
Fishing Estes flats will be a challenge due to shallow depth. There are ways to get into position and drift fish it though.

I love fishing the backside of St. Joe's island across the bay from Rockport and that is more doable without having a tunnel hull. You can fish it all the way down to Port A.