I bought a kenner 22ft vision . I'm going off shore this summer ( on calm days) to the rigs out 10 or so miles, out of POC. Can anyone give me a list of safety equipment required by law ?

I think the only thing different for coastal waters is that you have to have a coast guard approved signaling device

it's all in the TPW annual.
no difference in safety equipment Saltwater vs Freshwater

most important thing you can know: DON'T FORCE THE TRIP IF CONDITIONS ARE QUESTIONABLE!
pick your days, be prepared for march thru june being blown out
for a boat thit type & size

Pretty much the only rig left at 10nm out of POC is gonna be the "triple-rig"
platform, which gets fished to death, all day, every day.

A 22' bay boat needs "ice cream" conditions to get out there safely & comfortably. you might consider heading out of freeport for easier access to
some submerged wrecks

The map of the upper coast shows a number of rigs 10 miles out maybe a little farther . Are they gone now ?

Most rigs on old maps in TX waters are now gone and many more to follow. You now need to find numbers on submerged structure if you want to fish that kind of thing.

Just check the TPWD manual or online. We carry flares, flag, horn, throwable, big offshore life vest, & an epirb. Not sure what else off hand.

Port A has some closer rigs also. I fish POC a lot in the summer and Lite-Liner is right. The big triple rig is the closest but does get hit the most. The fishing at the little deeper rigs is usually much much better. Use caution at the end of the jetties. Those waves can get steep and tall in a hurry. I've been through them when they were 10ft tall when we were testing out our 30ft Whaler. I've also nearly swamped my 24ft skeeter down there when they were 6-8ft tall coming in from offshore. That's before I bought my offshore boat. After being in harms way too many times I decided to either give up offshore fishing or buy a bigger boat. We had ran 18 miles offshore in 1-1.5ft waves to fish a rig. When we got there the wind and waves picked up and we had 3-4 footers that we battled for over an hour getting back. I could only run 8-12mph and could barely keep the waves from coming over. That's when I made the decision to either give it up or buy a bigger boat.
Point is be safe out there. You can go anywhere in that 22ft boat but really play it safe and watch the offshore weather forecast. Good luck. It's a blast learning how to catch offshore fish. You will love it!

Might want to wait until the gulf shrimping season starts then you can find the shrimp boats and fish them. Usually hot and fast action around the shrimpers when you can find em. Sometimes later in the season they can be hard to locate as they are usually in deeper water

When I was younger and braver we'd go about 50 miles or so off Louisiana (marsh island) in a boat that size. Watch the weather closely, storms pop up very fast, make sure you have a good radio, watch the fronts coming and going, offshore is not a very friendly place when a front sneaks up on you.... Enever fished offshore in Texas but in la, that's how far we had to go in order to get to the blue water there are rigs everywhere off louisiana... Get a rig map too.... We'd fill the boat everytime.... My point is, it can be done in your boat, but be extremely careful and let someone on shore know your trip plan, times, etc. keep the radio on the coast guard channel for updates?... We even saw these idiots on a bass boat out there one time....

By the way, congratulations on your new boat!!! Now go fill her up!!!!

Oh, and get yourself a rig hook if you don't already have one....

Bigdtbone, I have a 24 and was thinking about trying POC also. Might try it around end of May.
When we're thinking of going?

I had a 21' Baystealth, unfortunately I sold it last year to a friend due to my travel requirements for work. However, I fished out of POC all the time. Chuck's comments about the first rig is correct, it is heavily fished. With that said, I was never skunked at that rig. Always got some decent Kings, minimum size snapper and an occasional ling. There use to be some rigs SE from the big jetty, but I have heard that many of those have been removed. If they are still there, I would suggest heading in that direction. They were still in state waters and had lots of big snapper, grouper ect.

Getting through the jetties in a bay boat can sometimes be a challenge. Those waves get really big during the tide changes. I always hugged one of the jetty walls, seemed to be the smoothest part of the channel. Once you get past the end of the jetty, things start to smooth out. At times, I have seen 4-5' waves in the jetty and it was glass smooth about 1/2 mile out.

Love POC and miss my boat, to the point that I am presently looking for a new job that will keep me home more than 30% of the time! If I can make that happen, will probably be back in a boat by year end..... Fingers crossed...