My brother in law and I are wanting to try our luck at Rockport or Lavaca this spring. We've never been there and have no idea where to go or what to do when we get there. We were wanting to "possibly" run out to a rig or a artificial reef and also do a little fishing in the bays for anything that bites. We'll be in a ZX20 bay, not sure how far you can go out in a 20 footer or if we should even attempt it. We just want to have a good time, be safe and maybe catch a few fish.
Does anyone have any suggestions on lodging, dining, fishing ect.

If you do Rockport, I can recommend Drifter's Resort (www.driftersresort.com) for lodging; they rent cabins and have RV slots. The staff there is awesome. There are too many options to list for fishing; in the spring a lot will depend on the weather and the timing. Scan old reports to get a feel for what's happening when, since you didn't list dates. One thing's certain, unless the weather is bad you can catch fish all year in Rockport.

Fishing on the coast gets better the hotter it gets especially if your going offshore to a rig. If your wanting to take a 20ft boat a few miles offshore then July is your month and even then you need to pick your days and watch the Radar for afternoon thunderstorms. If you are wanting to fish in the bays I like May and June because I like to fish Trout. You cannot access offshore waters reasonably (fuel) from Rockport and its also a haul from Port Lavaca. You would be better off in Port O'connor or Port Aransas for going to a Rig offshore. I am assuming you guys are really waning to do bay fishing, for Trout or Reds, in that case you can go to Lavaca or Rockport anytime. You just need to be very careful because the bays are mostly shallow water fishing and oyster reefs and old pipe have claimed many lower units. If you can team up with someone with local knowledge or even go with a guide your first time out would be cheaper than hauling a boat down with little or no success. The fish down there act more like schooling freshwater fish, find the bait find the fish they are here today and gone from there tomorrow. If you see bait everywhere then your in the right spot. These fish are constantly on the move very nomadic and following the bait migrations of either mullet, shad or shrimp. You can fish artificials or live bait, if live bait I fish shrimp in March and April and transition to croaker in May-August. If artificials for bay fishing then I fish top waters, Assasins, Gulp Shrimp and Gold Spoons.