pheedinfrenzy,
With a 17ft bayliner bay trips are doable but as everyone else has said I must emphasize that you pick your days carefully. This past summer I was out on the bay in a 19ft Carolina Skiff with a 6ft chop on the water...insane? VERY, not to mention that was very stupid (man the things we do when we're fish crazy) I would recomend leaving from Lynhaven Inlet as you have a much shorter run to the Bay Bridge Tunnel as opposed to leaving from Rudee and having the long ocean run where you have the potentiol to be stuck far from help. It is very important that you constantly moniter the weather, a small vhf or noaa radio can be picked up for a small sum and is well worth the price. Also this sounds stupid but I'm going to say it anyway, know how to drive the boat if the stuff does hit the fan. If an east wind picks up and you have to make it back in a 4 or 6ft chop, you have to remember that you cant drive the boat like you would on a lake, always head straight into or out of the swells or qaurter them if you have to. Never get more than a qaurter of the bow or stern turned into the swells or you risk being turned over. Sorry about the long post and for repeating what everyone else has said but these guys are right.
Tight lines and popped riggers