deeplaker

What I do is take old line from my old reel and pull the line off of it and spool it onto a new reel. The "Used" portion of the line gets tied to the spool and then reel the old line onto a new reel. . the old line is now on the bottom of the spool and the "Newer" portion of that line is now at the top.

My wife fishes with me all the time. She is a great angler. To answer your question I view her as my wife.... ;D , But I also View here as a fellow angler with as much knowledge as any I've ever fished with. I have never fished with any othe women.... Because I'm married :Dr

Seems you have a good sense in what you want/need. I was in a similar situation. I was lookin at bigger boats but like you could not get myself to bite. Ended up getting a tracker proteam 17 with a 40hp to hold me over until I could make up my mind. That was a few years ago and I haven't had the urge since.