and sea tow or towboats us is a good ideal. at $125 a year up too 25 miles out of your port, you can't go wrong.

I have a 17ft bay boat with a 50hp. On a calm day watching the weather carefully I will take it out to the stand pipes to fish for kings in the summer. Usually follow a buddy out. We have also taken it out the jetties and north along the shore about 10 miles to fish the surf. Safety is a must and weather can turn on dime.

These are photos we took of a water spout that sprang up in a matter of minutes. Just and hour before it was sunshine and calm seas. This was out just 5 miles from Jetties.

Silver, that's spooky! What tips do you have for a fellow bay boat user? I have a 19.5 Sea Fox with a 125. I'd love to head out on a few of these trips per year, but I'm hesitant because I don't want to kill myself.

The biggest and main thing is the weather. I wont take my boat even near the jetties unless its less than 3 foot seas. When the weather outlook looks great, no wind, you will see all kinds of boats venturing out.

Common sense things like your standard offshore safety gear is needed. Radio for sure.

So far I have been lucky, on the other hand i have seem conditions out there turn on a dime.

In a bay boat.....in and around the jetties and on very, very, very calm days out to the stand pipes is about as far as I push it.

So less than 3' and a calm forecast, be ready to haul booty, bring radio and safety gear. Now just to get my GPS hooked up and figure out where the stand pipes are and find out what type of fishing gear to use. Looks like more use of the search function is in order for me. Thanks for the tips.

Stand pipes are easy to find. Just head straight out the jetties and you will see them a little off to southwest. They are within eye disatance (8 miles). (Naked eye to horizon on water is 15 miles btw.).

Thanks! I found two great websites for wave height and weather forecasting in the gulf. I'm gonna give this a shot as soon as I get a GPS upgrade and a marine radio.

Tip: When you see that, lie down in the bottom of your boat & click your heels together 3 times and start repeating "There's no place like home" maybe then you will wake up and hopefully it was a dream

That would fall under the category of an oh SH** moment.......

I have taken yaks two the near rig 2 miles of bob hall pier on calm days. Done the same thing in 3 foot seas on a zodiac. gone to five miles out on a Zodiac

I've taken my 22ft Blue Wave out 22miles on more than 1 occasion. Been out 5-7 miles in 3-4ft seas one time. That was no fun.

well me and my dad have a 17 foot kenner with a 90 hp motor. And we have been 25 miles offshore with just a compass.... wich might sound crazy and unsafe. but now we have a gps and we go out on calm days and usually go 30 miles off

ITS ALL ABOUT USING COMMON SENSE.IT DEPENDS ON INDIVIDUAL BOAT ALSO.
NOT MANY PEOPLE WILL GO OUT IN A 4-5 SEAS IN A TRUE OFFSHORE BOAT. SO IN A BAY BOAT YOU WOULDN'T EITHER. GOING TO A CLOSE IN REEF OR RIG LESS THAN 10 MILES WILL BE OK IF, YOU PLAN YOUR TRIP WITH THE WEATHER,WIND, AND LOW SEAS. I WOULD GO OUT IN 2-4 FT SEAS IN A BAY BOAT( MAKO, PATHFINDER, SEA CHASER, NAUTICSTAR) MAKE SURE YOU HAVE THE RIGHT EQUIPMENT, GPS, VHF, AND SAFETY EQUIPMENT.

BACK WHEN I FIRST STARTED GOING OFFSHORE, I WAS GOING IN A 19 FT CAROLINA SKIFF WITH A COMPASS. THIS WAS ON THE ATLANTIC SIDE , WHICH IS ROUGHER SEAS. I MADE AT LEAST 40 TRIPS BEFORE I UP GRADED TO A 24 FT WALKAROUND ANGLER.

I own a 24 ft bay stealth and have taken it out 40+ miles on calm days. Watch the weather closely and always keep an eye on the horizon. If I see a dark cloud bank then it is time to get closer to shore. Especialy if it is toward shore. Have a good noha weather radio. Don't always beleive the weatherman as you know he can be wrong. Take every possible safety item you think you will need and all items you don't think you need. Also a gps is a must, but it is worthless with out an additional compass. Last year I hit a large rouge wave which knocked out my gps. If I had not had my compass and knew how to use it would had been interesting. There is no worse feeling to be offshore and not know where home is. Practice next time your off shore. On your way in turn off your gps and navigate back with your compass, don't wait till it happens. I always go on my long adventures with another boat. If you don't know first aid take a class it will come in handy. The most common injury is from fish hooks. Know how to remove them. One of my buddies caught himself in the face last summer with a large diamond jig. I safly removed it and applied a butterfly bandage. Remember this is the ocean and you are not on the top of the food chain anymore. Large fish will hurt you bad. No matter how bad you want him if you don't know how to handle him cut the line. Large fish WILL TEAR YOUR BOAT APART!!! I always have a safety briefing before we leave the dock. Remember you are the captain and are responsible for every one in the boat. Go over senerio's the night before and appoint job to each person and make sure they know how to perform them ie: tieing to a rig. There is a thousand other pointers I could give you but the only one you need to listen to is if you DON'T FEEL SAFE DON'T GO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!