After two years, four prototypes, and one factory change, Tyler’s first custom jig is finally here: the Outkast Tackle Pond Finesse Jig. It was built around a specific angler — the pond fisherman throwing a spinning rod who has never had a jig that actually fits that setup — and around one stubborn problem most finesse jigs never solve: hookup ratio. Here is why it was designed the way it was, what actually goes into making a jig from scratch, and exactly how to rig and fish it.
I may earn a commission from qualifying purchases made through links in this article — at no extra cost to you. Worth noting: Tyler earns no commission on individual jig sales; the pricing was set to make a good product affordable rather than to take a cut.
Pond Finesse Jig — Quick Reference
| Spec | Detail | Why It Matters |
|---|---|---|
| Sizes | 1/4 oz and 3/8 oz only | 1/4 for spinning rods, 3/8 for baitcasters — nothing heavier for shallow ponds |
| Hook | Custom size 3 VMC, PTFE coated | Longer than typical finesse hooks — the fix for poor hookup ratios |
| Weed guard | Light | Weedless over logs and grass; not built for heavy wood |
| Skirt | Frog-style, double banded, untrimmed | Left long on purpose so you customize it |
| Colors | Black & blue, PB&J, bluegill, green pumpkin, green pumpkin orange | Core pond and finesse palette |
What Actually Goes Into Making a Jig
There is an easy way to launch a jig: buy an existing mold from an overseas factory, put your own skirt on it, and call it new. That is not what happened here, and the real process is a lot more involved than most anglers realize.
Step 1 — Design the Head in CAD
It starts in CAD (computer aided design), modeling in three dimensions how the hook sits inside the head and how the lead — or tungsten, or steel — gets poured or injected around it. What is inside the head is not always simple, either: it might be a straightforward bend up to a line tie, or it might involve small split rings or a short chain embedded in the head to create an articulated line tie.
Step 2 — Turn the Design Into a Mold
That CAD file becomes a physical mold, the same clamshell style many anglers already know from pouring their own jigs: drop the hook in, close it, inject the lead.
Step 3 — Choose the Hook (This Is the Hard Part)
Hook selection is where the design gets constrained. Length, gap size, wire diameter, and the angle of the eye all limit what the head can look like. A hook meant for a vertical 90-degree line tie produces a very different jig than one designed to sit horizontal. The metal matters too — tungsten is denser and therefore smaller for the same weight, which can rule out a hook that lead would accommodate fine.
Version two had a hook that was simply too small — Tyler lost roughly half the fish he hooked while testing it, either on the jump or flopping off at the bank — plus the wrong head shape and a weed guard that was far too thick. Version three was close, but the hook moved from a size 2 to a size 3. That became prototype four, the production jig. The whole process took about two years and a factory switch.
What Makes This Jig Different
A Longer, Coated, Custom Hook
This is the headline feature. Most finesse jigs use a small, short hook, and most of them have a mediocre hookup ratio because of it. Outkast went to VMC and had a custom size 3 hook made with the Red Line PTFE coating — a hook you cannot simply buy off the custom jig mold page. It is light wire, but the coating and the extra length mean the point drives home with almost no effort. That custom hook is the main reason the jig runs around $6.49 to $6.99 instead of the $4.99 a standard jig might cost.
Built for a Spinning Rod
Here is the angler this jig was designed for. A huge number of pond fishermen throw spinning gear — either because they have not moved to a baitcaster yet or because they simply prefer it. A 3/8 or 1/2 oz jig with a bulky craw trailer is a genuine handful on a spinning rod, and getting a solid hook set with a medium power spinning setup is harder still. The 1/4 oz version with that coated hook solves both problems: Tyler fished it on a 6-foot-10 medium fast spinning rod and had no trouble burying the hook.
There is no half-ounce version on purpose. In shallow ponds a heavier head drags the bottom and collects muck, algae, and junk. The 1/4 oz is the spinning rod size and the 3/8 oz is the baitcaster size — that covers the water this jig was built for.
Honest About the Weed Guard
This is a finesse jig, and the weed guard is deliberately light. Run it across a log or a stalk of grass and it stays clean, but this is not a flipping and pitching jig for heavy wood. Think relatively open water, some vegetation, some snaggy stuff. There are more weedless jigs available — they just will not get as many bites or convert as many of them. (A heavy-cover skipping jig is the second design in the works, built to be close to the polar opposite of this one.)
Trailers & Skirt Trimming
Pick a Small, Skinny Trailer
Because the hook is light wire and relatively slim even with the coating, bulky craws and creature baits fight it. A 3.5-inch craw is possible if you trim it down, including the sides, but the better answer is a small, skinny, almost Ned-rig-style plastic. Tyler’s pick is the Strike King Rage Ned Craw in both sizes of the jig.
The bait keeper is intentionally small. The standard T-wing keeper was left off because forcing a skinny trailer over that much metal tears it and costs you trailers faster. A small keeper holds well — the tested one ripped partway but never came off — and a dab of superglue extends trailer life considerably.
Trim the Skirt to Taste
The skirt is a standard-length frog skirt (an industry term for the strand style, nothing to do with topwater frogs), double banded, with relatively thin strands. It looks like a lot of skirt for a jig this size, and that is deliberate — it ships untrimmed so you can tune it to your water rather than having the decision made for you. You can fish it straight out of the package, especially the 3/8 oz, but tinkering is encouraged.
| Trim Style | How To Do It | Best For |
|---|---|---|
| Out of the package | No trim at all | The 3/8 oz, stained water, bigger profile |
| Standard trim | Cut to just past the hook length — top, then bottom — then pull or cut strands out to thin it | Most situations; Tyler’s default |
| Full finesse | Tiny trim on the bottom, bowl-cut trim up top | Clear water, pressured fish, coldest bites |
How to Fish the Pond Finesse Jig
Fish it like a Ned rig. Let it reach the bottom, then hop, hop, hop — bigger hop — pause, and repeat, sometimes up to ten hops in a row. You are moving the jig along the bottom like something rooting around down there, the way a bluegill picks at the bottom. That motion gets a fish's attention, and with a profile this size a one-pound bass cannot help itself — though do not discount its big-fish potential.
The hook set is the fun part. On a Texas morning in brutal heat, Tyler went four for four on a quarter-ounce green pumpkin with a light finesse trim, working a retaining wall in about three and a half feet of water. Every fish came with almost no hook set at all — a simple lean into the fish — and every one was hooked in the roof of the mouth. One even came off a downward, sideways set, which is the wrong hook set for a jig. That was the entire design goal: make it work regardless of your technique or strength.
It is not just a pond bait. It is an excellent river jig — hold your line and let it drift down with the current for smallmouth and spotted bass. It also handles snot grass unusually well for a jig; at a quarter ounce it hops off the muck and trash on the bottom instead of plowing through it, and you can fish nearly every cast without clearing the head. It will even punch a light mat in a shady corner.
Final Thoughts
This is not a jig designed to be the biggest big-bass producer in your box — it is a quarter or three-eighths ounce finesse jig on a light wire hook. What it is designed to do is get bit, and stay pinned once it does, so that anglers who have never trusted a jig finally have one that works on the gear they already own. That is a different goal than most jigs are built around, and it came from a pond and bank angler's perspective rather than solely from a tournament boat.
Still building jig confidence? Tyler’s Arky-style jig fishing guide covers the fundamentals, and his hook set masterclass explains why hook placement matters as much as the hook itself.
Source: Based on video content from TylersReelFishing — “I Designed My Own Fishing Jig!! (OUT NOW)” · youtube.com/@tylersreelfishing
Q&A Flashcards: The Pond Finesse Jig
Tap any card to reveal the answer. Great for getting the most out of your new jig.