FK2,

Suggestion. Find a Guide that knows the river you will be fishing often. Hire him, but tell him that you want to take your boat. Have him teach you how to row, set up, anchor, etc. Plus, you will get a lesson on where and how to fish the river. May cost some $, but 3 years from now your learning curve will be way accelerated, so spread the cost of the guide trip out over x trips per yer for 3 years and it suddenly becomes very affordable. Oh and Creekwalker, I feel sorry for anybody that can only come up with one way to spell a word.
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You can always tell a fisherman, you just can't tell him much.