By Pete Riola

I own many fishing rods. Probably over 30 with most being spinning rods.  If I could only use one fishing rod the rest of my life it would undoubtably be my 7′ ML Extra-fast action Predator, a creation of Lonnie Murphy at Thorne Bros. This rod, in the simplest word: fantastic. Fantastic in terms of sensitivity, speed, cast ability and weight. The rod is rated for 4-10 pound line and 1/8-3/8oz lures.  With this rod I’ve fished plenty of 1/16 ounce jigs plus weightless sinking worms and swim baits too. And it’s tough enough to deal with the occasional over-sized fish. I’ve hooked and landed many fish over 15 pounds with this rod so I can attest to that. Though my Predator is a super-fast ML it has power when you need it. Did I mention the rod is just plain more fun to fish! It’s not that my other rod selections aren’t in the boat, it’s just I’m picking my top jig rod in this article.

Being a jig fisherman at heart I truly believe this Predator fishing rod has helped me detect more bites and get hooksets that keep fish pinned with a mere flick of the wrist. In addition to the speed in the blank the sensitivity is outstanding. The Predator is mostly a jig rod for bass and walleyes but it can double as a panfish rod too. In addition to jigging you can fish sinking worms and swim baits or cast weightless plastics with wide gap 4/0 hooks.

This rod is made with a St Croix SCV blank and I let Lonnie pick the guides. I’m old, I still prefer a Tennessee Handle. For some reason I think I get better feel with the Tennessee handle. If I were to pick a different grip I’d go for the hidden hood. They’re sweet.

My Predator rod is super-fast and sensitive allowing me to detect the most subtle bites.

This rod makes me a better jig fisherman.

This is the Predator 7′ ML Extra Fast vs 40 inch pike.

In the video below I’m using my Predator to fish walleyes. I’m posting this video so you can see the speed of this rod. In particular the hookest on the second walleye is just a quick flick of the wrist.

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