Built in a Garage. Born on the Water.
Jon Jon’s Outdoors didn’t start with a business plan. It started with my dad, a fishing rod, and one of the wildest lures I’d ever seen: a Heddon Tiny Crazy Crawler.
He loved that bait. I can still see him casting it across the water, its metal wings churning across the surface. Then his PB exploded on it. After he got the fish in the boat, he rowed us back one-handed because he refused to set the rod down. -100% true story- I was hooked. No pun intended. Not just on fishing. On that moment. And that Crawler Bite.
Make the cast. Hear the bait working. Watch it crawl, then the surface blows up, your bait disappears, and your drag starts screaming.
Decades later, that same rush drives everything I build at Jon Jon’s Outdoors.
From Survival to the Shop I’m a two-time cancer survivor. I’ve lived through seasons when making it to the next day was the only goal. Those years sharpened my view of time, family, faith, and what truly deserves my attention. Fishing was always my happy place.
After my second cancer, the damage from everything I’d been through eventually put me on disability. But I’ve never been someone who can sit around and watch life pass by. So I started making fishing baits to keep my hands busy and my mind moving. With a ton of help from my friend Whit at Curtek Customs, I learned, experimented, made plenty of mistakes, and eventually built my first official bait.
-The Big D-That is what we called my dad growing up.
I’ve been building baits for eight years now. As my skills have grown, I’ve updated the Big D every year—but I’ve never raised its price. That’s intentional.
The Big D is where this started, and keeping it at the same price is one small way I honor my dad.
One Man. One Garage. No Assembly Line.
Jon Jon’s Outdoors isn’t a giant lure company. It’s me. I design, build, paint, assemble, tune, and package every bait in my garage.
From the Big D and Little d Crawlers to the Drowning Munk, the Blue Collar Gill, and the new creations coming your way soon, every bait starts with the same goal: make something that looks right, moves right, and earns its place on your rod.
These aren’t shelf ornaments. They’re built to be cast, chewed up, scratched, and fished hard. Built to catch your PB—and survive the fight when you try to beat it.
It’s about throwing your favorite bait while fishing with your family, enjoying the outdoors, and making memories that last longer than the day on the water.
My dad gave me that feeling without ever knowing where it would lead. Every Big D I build carries a piece of him. And every bait I send out carries the hope that it becomes part of someone else’s story.
Welcome to Jon Jon’s Outdoors.
Garage made. Built to fish. Made for the memories.
— Jon Jon