Outlaw86

I've found driving a boat is very similar to driving a sports car. The more time you spend behind the wheel, the more you feel comfortable pushing the machine you're in control of. Take it slow, see how it reacts to what you do and drive it how you feel comfortable.

Now this is my 2 cents and it's worth less than I'm charging for it, so take it with a grain of salt. Zinc contamination in lead is becoming more popular with most wheel weights going to steel or zinc now. Is the lead you've found already in ingots? A lot of guys don't like to bother with zinc contaminated lead and I was really paranoid about this when I started smelting and pouring my own weights and jigs but at this point, several years later, I feel it's a non issue. If they're wheel weights, just keep your temp around 700 degree's (or lower) in the smelting pot. If theres doubts as to if a weight is zinc I drop it in the pot and see if it floats after a few seconds. If it it floats, it gets skimmed and trashed. The guys that get in trouble with it are the one's that fill a huge pot, set it on the turkey fryer and then forget about it til it's too late, if youre doing small runs, a few pounds at a time and watching, skimming clips and monitoring the temp you'll NEVER run into a problem.

It happens occasionally, try to keep the anchor rope taunt and motor in a circle around it, it'll pull itself off the log/snag

Get you one of these: I always called them sand anchors but I guess they're called fluke anchors, heres a small picture showing how they work, they're perfect for sandy bottoms.

When getting into a boat for freshwater I was in a similar position, wanted something I could put in salt every once in a while and fish the inlets, jetties and hit a new-shore reef on glassy days. While not a fiberglass skiff, I opted for a 16' high side jon boat with stick steer up front, front and rear deck, livewell in the center and drafts extremely shallow (though not as shallow as some skiffs).

Make sure you put it on wet with plenty of pressure, I usually put the spool of braid in a little Tupperware container of water and apply pressure with my fingers while reeling. Use a damp rag or something though to protect your fingers, braid will slice you open before you realize it. The biggest issue I see with people spooling up braid is over-filling the spool, you can leave up to an 1/8th of an inch or so of the spool showing, no need to try to pack it to the brim.

Generally the knot tying the line to the spool doesn't come under stress until all of your line is out, so unless whatever is on the other end has 'spooled' you, you should be safe.

If its not for immediate use (You can go without it for a week or so), get in touch with them for a return, they'll either get you a prepaid label to ship it back and replace it or tell you to keep it and ship you the correct one.

Same for me here, water on the river here is low 70s, with plenty of shade and holes where I'm sure it drops a bit. I don't notice much of a difference or any at all for that matter during the dog days of the summer.

Hey Ya'll, Name's Jason. I've fished my entire life, admittedly mostly offshore saltwater but I think I'm ready to convert. I picked up a Lowe 16' jon boat with a merc 50 this week after another project was taking a little too long to get off the ground and I need to get in the water this year. Ive fished local ponds, lakes and rivers all my life but always as a guest with other people and finally decided now with my own boat to fish the local waters, that it was time to make some memories with my 5yo daughter. Though born in NY, my dad moved my family down to South Carolina within the first few months of my birth, he said NY (Brooklyn) was no place to raise a kid. So I've lived in SC since before my first birthday. I like to think I know most of the local areas pretty well but only in passing, Im prepared to put in the work and really study the areas I plan to fish to pull what I can out of them. I'm a tattooer by trade but currently taking a break from the industry to set-up an online business and establish some 'work from home' income with my wife (Decals, stickers, etc) so that leaves me a lot of time on the PC. ~J