Freeport is great but once snapper season starts its very congested. Port O is my choice for smaller boats like yours because if you plan a trip, get there and it's rough you still have great fishing. The worst part of Oconnor is getting away from the Jetties. The water is crazy for the first three miles out. The rigs in that area are close and have had great fish around them. I like to use a half water filled bleach jug tied to my rope. Pull up, toss it over the rig bars and let it float back to your boat. I hate hauling a rig hook in a small boat. Get used to your boat in fresh water first! Go run it on a windy day and see how it reacts to rough chop. Replace your bildge pumps every year!

Thanks for the tips. I went out last weekend. First time driving a boat since I was a senior in HS, about 6 years ago, and did good in the 30 mph wind. Docking with the wind blowing me towards the shore was quite interesting lol

Taylor, pull down to Port O'connor a few days this summer and I will buddy boat out with you. I fish out of a 22' triton bay boat and hit the jetty, near rigs, and closest wrecks in fed water fairly often. Weather is the key. AT POC, I've found you have to be around 16 miles out to find good snapper. You will find snapper at < 9 miles but they will be smallish. Kings are plentiful in late summer,though.

It was drifting, seas too heavy for anchor, depth was 65-70'

I saw you today in Keller. that big boat looks kinda funny behind that single cab Ford.

I will take you up on that for sure, thanks man

Lol hey it's got the half doors. I think the Raptor looks pretty good pulling the boat.

Yeah, but gas mileage is gonna suck pulling that boat 5-7 hours 1 way to the coast. Ha

Yep gonna get ten mpg

Yep. 10 MPG is about right pulling a Wellcraft 19' with a Tundra.

"Cause I can see clearly, 30 miles out!" sorry couldnt resist, if you guys havnt watched Ty's youtube videos, watch 30milesout on youtube.. awesome awesome awesome is all I can say..
I am with you on the Kicker, I would also look into one of the tow services, they are very cheap, and if you ever do break down out there, thats one isnurance plan you dont want to be without. Sure the coast gaurd will help, but so will these guys.... http://www.boatus.com/ plus they will come out jumpstart your batteries or anything else you might need, its like AAA but for the water.. there are a couple of other ones out there, this is just the one on top of my head right now..

Those are some BAD A$s lights you got there, I am PM'ing you as I am in the market for some.

X2 on the tow insurance. Also, get a VHF. Usually, the diciest part of going offshore is getting through the jetties. Know your boat, and be patient. Get a "Boyle's" anchor. Made in Texas, and sold at most tackle stores on the coast. The "bleach bottle" trick works great for a rig hook. It's all we use since the 1st rig hook I made snapped and came flying back at us. Good luck!!

This web site will be helpful. http://www.srh.noaa.gov/productview.php?pil=CRPCWFCRP Off Port Aransas you can fish the close rigs (the ones just off the beach to the south) and do well on sharks and kings when the water is �king green� and when the blue water moves in close you can catch most anything; dolphin, ling, sails, tarpon, I mean anything. Take some live shrimp and fish the rigs near the bottom for a mix bag of reds, trout, sheepshead, BIG whiting, skipjack, snapper, drum, and small ling and sharks. Learn to make your own kingfish ribbonfish leaders using a king buster skirt and you will do great. I think 2-3 foot seas are a little much for comfortable fishing in that boat. There can be a lot of 4s mixed in. I would wait and only go if its 1-2 foot. One last thing, as others have told you the jetties can be hairy if the boat traffic is high. Avoid the weekends until you learn what your boat does in confused seas.

me and a buddy got a boat a little over a year ago and have been going out to about 50 miles, ours is bigger than yours and has 2 225 merc's but there have been days when you coulda got that far also, if you have the fuel, 1st lesson we learned was to have a backup for every backup and be prepared for anything. we got a small handheld gps when we got the boat, we have 2 lowrance units on the boat with gps but we got the handheld, saved the freeport jetty in it , took the batterys out and stowed it. 3 trips later we lost power to everything electrical except the motors. We got that little handheld out and went straight back to the ramp. we keep our boat about a mile from the ramp at surfside in a dry storage for $100.00 a month, cant beat it

Great tips, I am really excited about my first trip out. I am hoping to go late april. I likely wont go out more than 5-7 miles at first. I want to take it really slow. The nice thing about the TX gulf is you don't have to go out super far to have fun.

If any of you guys want to make a trip out of it and bring your boats that would be awesome. I like the idea of having some experienced guys out there with me.