our story

White River Zig Jigs began with a simple goal: Create a better marabou jig for catching trout.

Founder Richard Cross grew up fishing the White and North Fork Rivers of north-central Arkansas. After years of fishing with traditional bait and experimenting with fly fishing, Richard was introduced to marabou jigs in the mid-1990s. On one of his first trips using them on the White River below Beaver Dam, he caught more — and bigger — trout than he was accustomed to. He was hooked.

The problem was finding consistently high-quality jigs with the right action. So Richard decided to make his own. Working with a lure manufacturer in Mountain Home, Arkansas, he spent months refining the jig head until it performed exactly the way he wanted. The result became the White River Zig Jig: a precisely manufactured, powder-coated marabou jig built with durable Mustad Ultra Point black nickel hooks and designed to perform cast after cast.

Richard began selling White River Zig Jigs in 2000, and what started as a passion project grew into a trusted name among anglers across the country and beyond. Over the next two decades, Richard and his wife, Jennifer — affectionately known to many customers as the “jig queen” — built lasting relationships with fishermen, sharing advice, stories and thousands of photos of great catches along the way.

In June 2024, Richard and Jennifer passed the Zig Jig tradition on to longtime customers, friends and fishing partners Johnny and Brandi Bates. Their shared love for the product made them the natural choice to carry the business forward. Richard remains involved, helping promote Zig Jigs, educate anglers and support Johnny and Brandi as they continue what he started. Today, Zig Jig remains what it has always been: a product created by people who love to fish, built to help other anglers catch more — and bigger — fish.

Designed by fishermen, for fishermen. Tight lines!