Junger

I like fluoro for jig type fishing where line belly can be annoying. For moving baits and heavy cover like pads, hydrilla, I use braid.

Bingo, of course doing so with full care!

Carefully.

Are you measuring their thickness with a caliper? If so, report which ones are not accurate.

It does have micro gears. How is it inferior to the K?

I'd say it's low end sweet spot is 3/8oz.

I like the weights from OM, but the hooks they use are garbage, they bend easy.

No.

Had a nice weekend trip on the Piankatank River and lots of species caught. I also had a 25lb+ alligator snapping turtle hooked on a spinnerbait, but luckily it shook off as it got next to the boat.

I've had Daiwa J-Braidx4 snap on me once and only once. I use braid a lot, on most of my rods. It was on a rod that I fished a lot of slop on. I think the friction from the guides/slop created a weak point and it snapped the x4.

You can get a $20 carbon fiber one off Amazon too. They're decent quality and definitely reduce the reel weight. You can even upgrade up to a 100mm handle if you like longer ones.

The 4'8" Pflueger ultra light set is a good quality combo. My son was using it when he was 4. Casts easy, and is durable. When he's ready for a longer rod, you can just buy a decent $40 rod, and move the size 2000 reel to it.

Yes, you can test the TM battery with a multimeter. I also have one of these attached so I can check it on the water. https://smile.amazon.com/gp/product/B07BHBTHLW/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_search_asin_title?ie=UTF8&psc=1

The action is fast, for example the bend goes to the third guide from the tip. But, it is soft enough that if you put a 1/2lb weight on the line, it would fully get to the backbone (i.e. third guide) on the Tatula Elite 7' M/MH. Just as an example, compare to a 6'10 G1 Tatula MH/F, it also would bend to the third guide. Except 1/2lb of weight wouldn't get it to the backbone. It would take more force, like 1lb of weight to bend the tip.

Take a look at the TAEL701MMHFS (1/16-1/2oz), or even the TAEL610MXS-AGS if you're in tighter quarters. I think both will be true to their ratings based on my experience with the 7' M/MH Tatula Elite. I can throw 1/8oz johnson mino-spins on the 7' M/MH AGS that's rated for 1/8-1oz, with an Alphas SV105.

Can't help with that specific rod or any of the G2 Tatula rods, but I had a Zillion G1 7' M/XF casting casting rod and it was pretty true to it's 1/8-5/8oz rating and had a pretty soft tip. I've also had an G1 Tatula 6'9 ML/R and I had problems casting 1/4oz hardbaits, which was on its lower end, for a ML rated rod it felt more like a M. I think the Tatula Elite rods have softer tips than the G1 Tatula and G2 Zillions. I really like the 7' M/MH AGS, and 7'4 H/F AGS frog rod, I sold off some of my Zillions and G1 Tatulas for these.

Lures have different aerodynamics that will affect how they fly through the air. Spinnerbaits are the worst, I always tighten up my settings before throwing them, then adjusting from there.

Thanks - runtime isn't important to me, so much as top speed is. I am going to remove the spare fuel tank in the transom well to fit another AGM to upgrade to a 24v. I don't fish on the gas engine enough in a day to use all 5g anyways. My old TM had a 36" shaft,and when full down, it was about 16 inches under the water line. When trimmed up, it ran 3-4" under the water line which was great for getting into skinny water. It had some kind of plastic ring stop inhibiting it from trimming up past a certain point. Boat draft is about 10". I can only find 24v batteries with a 45" shaft, and I won't be able to get into that skinny water anymore unless I can trim up the TM to where I want to.

Did you inspect the spark plugs? But seems like something is up with your starter.

Frogs are fun, and so are toads. Give those a try too.

Thanks for the info. I think I'll upgrade to the 24v/70lb Motorguide, it would be nice to get to places faster on those reservoirs. My only hesitation is if I have the new 70lb TM, and I want to crawl the boat, it may have too much power and go faster than I would like on the lowest power setting. On my current 12v/45lb TM, I don't ever recall using it on the lowest power setting, and more often than not, power 3. So maybe power 1 on the 70lb TM will be slow enough.

8lb and 10lb 660 yards Sunline FC Sniper is $30.97 on Amazon (sold by Gander), about half off from retail price.

So I have a little 14' fiberglass boat with a 12v 45lb thrust Motorguide TM. I fish a couple reservoirs where it is electric only, and I've never made it out to some parts because it would take like 30 minutes just to get there. My typical outting is only 2-3 hours with my kids, so I usually try and get them fishing right away. If I get a 12v 55lb thrust TM, will it actually increase my speed? Or is thrust like torque, where it doesn't necessarily translate into raw speed, just more pulling power. I'm hesitate to go to 24v because I don't think there's room to add another battery.

Shimano Nasci 2500. Do not put a Daiwa on a Shimano rod, or vice-versa or bad things will happen!

For the baits I use a fastach with, I remove the split rings and save them.