We have several upcoming speaking events with our staff and would love to see you at these events!

January 11, 2025:   Joni Murray will be giving a presentation at the Red Cedar Fly Fishers. 

January 18, 2025:   We will have a booth at the Heartland Fly Fishing Festival in Lebanon, Indiana.     Kevin Feenstra will be giving a presentation on Smallmouth Bass fishing, Matt Zudweg is a featured tier at this event. 

January 21, 2025:    Kevin Feenstra will be giving a fly tying demonstration at Nomad Anglers in Grand Rapids, Michigan.  

February 1:   Some of our guides will be fly tying at the Bobbin the Hood event at Schultz Outfitters. 

February 4:  Matt Zudweg will be giving a fly tying demonstration at Nomad Anglers.

February 6:   Kodie Kowitz will be giving a fly tying demonstration at Nomad Anglers. 

February 8:    Kevin will be on hand at the Three Rivers Fly Fishing show near Fort Wayne, Indiana. 

February 20:   Drew Rosema will be demonstrating at Nomad Anglers. 

February 20:   Kevin will be giving a presentation at the Ohio Central Basin Steelheaders. 

March 1:   Kevin will be presenting at the North Coast Fly Fishers Expo, near Cleveland, Ohio.   

March 5:  Kevin will be demonstrating at the Northern Angler in Traverse City, Michigan. 

March 8-9:   We will have booth space and Kevin will be presenting at the Midwest Fly Fishing Expo.   Additionally, Matt Zudweg will be a featured tier at that event. 

March 12:   Kevin will be presenting at the Indianapolis Fly Casters. 

March 15:   Kevin will be presenting at the Charles Fellows TU Chapter. 

The post Winter 2025 Fly Fishing Events appeared first on FEENSTRA GUIDE SERVICE.

In my first couple years guiding for trout I did a lot of streamer trips. It was in high demand from a guiding standpoint and it was a great way to find a large brown trout. It also was a lot of WORK for clients to throw big flies and strip them non stop all day.

Because it was too much work for most people to rapidly strip sinking lines all day I found it was a great idea to break it up with a much easier and just as enjoyable option… swinging wet flies.

As someone who finds “the take” as the most exciting part of fishing, the wet fly bite fit the bill.

Back then it was all done with single hand rods, and often a split shot or two on the leader would help sink the fly.

Fast forward a few years and the invention of poly leaders made the casting much more enjoyable and the fishing even more effective. Poly Leaders are simply a tapered leader coated in tungsten.

Then fast forward a few more years and two handed 4 and 5 weight rods made it even more enjoyable, efficient and also gave clients an opportunity to improve their skills with Spey casting, which is our main gig during the steelhead run.

Eventually the percentage of streamer time vs swinging wet flies switched places for me so that now the vast majority of a day trout fishing in my boat has been geared toward Trout Spey and in general we’ll hit some of the good streamer spots at some point too.

I’ve found that most clients really enjoy the ratio change and it breaks the day up a little for all of us.

With Trout Spey becoming increasingly popular over the last decade, the rods and lines have improved greatly and are super enjoyable to cast.

Of course if there are dry fly opportunities we definitely take advantage of that, but on a typical day of trout fishing in my boat we’ll be swinging wet flies on the switch rods for a majority of the day enjoying a “tight line grab” from our trout friends.

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I hope you’ll give this fly a try at your vise and on the water this year. Enjoy! – Zuddy

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Many guides develop a phenomenon called “Reynauds” over time from the extreme cold temperatures. Reynauds as Wikipedia describes is “a medical condition in which the spasm of small arteries causes episodes of reduced blood flow to end arterioles. Typically, the fingers, and less commonly, the toes, are involved”.

In my case, I developed Reynauds long before I ever began guiding when I was just 13 years old as a result of frostbite in my fingers.

Cold weather guiding has always been harder for me as a result and my best solution until last year was mittens with disposable hand warmers stuffed in them. Although this made cold weather guiding possible, my fingers would still be loaded with ulcers by Christmas. Basically because my fingers would get cold from the inside, the tissue would die and be really painful as it worked its way out through my skin. Sounds terrible I know.

Now for the great news!

Last year my friend Charlie was telling my about his new heated glove liners. He was so impressed with them that every time I saw him he was telling me how great they were. He offered to loan them to me so I could try them for myself so I borrowed them for a couple days and became convinced they were the solution to my cold fingers.

Heated gloves aren’t cheap at around $120 pair, but I bought a few pair anyway. This last fall was my first fall in 20 years of guiding that I reached the end of the busy season without a single ulcer flare up on my fingers. The heated gloves have been life changing for me for sure!

The gloves I’ve found that work best are the liner gloves which allow my fingers the most dexterity and in fact are very easy to fish with. They are thin enough that I can even tie a new fly on without taking the gloves off if it’s super cold.

Most heated gloves, mine included have 3 heat settings… low, medium and high. On high, I typically get about 2 1/2 hours on a battery charge. When the battery dies, it only takes a few seconds to remove the rechargeable lithium battery and swap it with another one. I keep a charger plugged in to my boat so I always have one charging and one in my glove.

If you suffer from cold hands like me, I’d encourage you to give heated gloves a try. I think you’ll find that they allow you to spend more time in the great outdoors even in the coldest weather.

I’ve purchase two different brands so far and while I’m quite satisfied with both brands, the brand at the top link tend to be my go to gloves.

https://www.amazon.com/Savior-Rechargeable-Battery-Motorcycle-Mountaineering/dp/B01M0SF4ZP?pd_rd_w=JzPFM&content-id=amzn1.sym.6c9101f8-677d-4b13-9bf0-c7e0d8fdf3bd&pf_rd_p=6c9101f8-677d-4b13-9bf0-c7e0d8fdf3bd&pf_rd_r=87X0QZ3NGY2J9AWH21ZA&pd_rd_wg=JxzBS&pd_rd_r=18952de0-b900-418d-9d82-03982fa54ea8&pd_rd_i=B01M0SF4ZP&psc=1&ref_=pd_basp_bia_rpt_ba_s_2_sc

https://www.amazon.com/Electric-Rechargeable-Battery-Athritis-Raynauds/dp/B07MNFRVVF?pd_rd_w=JzPFM&content-id=amzn1.sym.6c9101f8-677d-4b13-9bf0-c7e0d8fdf3bd&pf_rd_p=6c9101f8-677d-4b13-9bf0-c7e0d8fdf3bd&pf_rd_r=87X0QZ3NGY2J9AWH21ZA&pd_rd_wg=JxzBS&pd_rd_r=18952de0-b900-418d-9d82-03982fa54ea8&pd_rd_i=B07MNFRVVF&psc=1&ref_=pd_basp_bia_rpt_ba_s_3_sc

To learn more about the author of this post, Matt Zudweg, click here. 

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January 9, 2023: Kevin Feenstra will give a fly fishing presentation at the Grand River Fly Tiers. This will be a program and a fly tying event. It will include a slide show section on winter and early spring fishing, as well as a fly tying portion.  

January 17: Kevin will be giving a program at the Duneland Fly Fishers in Valparaiso, Indiana

January 18: Kevin will give a fly fishing presentations at the St. Joe River Valley Fly Fishers, in Elkhart, Indiana 

January 19: Kevin will be speaking at Kalamazoo Valley Trout Unlimited.

January 21 and 22: We will have a booth at the Heartland Fly Fishing Festival in Lebanon, Indiana 

January 25: Kevin will be tying flies at the Northern Angler in Traverse City, MI.  

January 26: Drew Rosema gives a fly tying demonstration for Nomad AnglersAdded: 

February 4, 2023: Kevin, Drew, and Matt will have fly tying demonstrations with Schultz Outfitters at the Bobbin the Hood event. This should be a very fun one to attend!  

February 10, 2023: Kevin will be doing a couple of fly fishing presentations at the Mershon Chapter of Trout Unlimited

February 11, 2023: We will have a booth at the 3 Rivers Fly Fishing Show in Ft. Wayne, Indiana 

February 16, 2023: Kevin will be presenting for the 3 Rivers Fly Fishing Club at their monthly meeting.

February 23, 2023: Kevin Feenstra will be speaking for the Ohio Central Basin Steelheader’s club.

February 27, 2023: Kevin will be speaking for the Grand Rapids Audubon club. This will be a program focused on birds and wildlife.

March 4, 2023: Kevin is a featured fly tier at the North Coast Fly Fishers Expo in the Cleveland area. 

March 11 &12: Feenstra Guide Service will have a booth at the Midwest Fly Fishing Expo.

May 20, 2023: Kevin will be teaching a fly tying class at the Newaygo Public Library

We hope to see you at one or more of our events! 

For more info on any of our guides, click here.

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2019 is producing some big fish!

Each year is different, but this one has certainly been like none other.    We had a delayed steelhead run, followed by a high water spring.   That high water followed us well into July.   Up until earlier this month, we were at water levels that you would expect in March.        Only in recent weeks have we backed off into normal water levels.   Our cool water fish such as trout survive much better on years with high water.  Good water levels also benefit the fry of migratory fish such as salmon and steelhead.    High water is healthy for the Muskegon River as a whole; resident baitfish thrive in these water conditions.  Elevated water floods the shallow edges of the river, submerging a lot of  vegetation that would normally be out of the water.    These flooded, weedy areas provide cover for small baitfish and fry, and as a result we end up with a lot of food in the river.

High water levels have helped the baitfish in the Muskegon River thrive!

This abundance of food in turn creates some very heavy predator fish, including the smallmouth bass.  As the baitfish mature we will imitate bigger minnows, especially common shiners and gobies.  Gray and tan are great colors to imitate a broad array of these fish.   As water levels drop, the gamut of smallmouth flies works great.   This includes crayfish patterns but it also includes some of the funnest patterns–poppers that are fished on the surface.    Because of the drop offs in the Muskegon, the smallmouth are often located along the edges, bass feed along the edges and this is prime territory for explosive surface bites.    Our guides have excellent surface patterns.  One of our guides,  Matt Zudweg,  has his own line of great poppers.  He is well regarded throughout the region for his flies.    His large patterns elicit some fantastic bass over the course of a summer.  You can see a sample of his poppers below:

https://www.instagram.com/p/BzEAhSPhuNV/

Because food continues to be super abundant, the smallmouth feed erratically.     Water levels are currently dropping, which will concentrate baitfish and raise the metabolism of the fish, making for prime smallmouth fishing opportunities.  As the water drops and warms, expect the rest of the summer to be very good for smallmouth.

Typically smallmouth fishing is very good well into September.    The remainder of summer is a fun, high quality time of the year to fish.   There is something really awesome about being on the river in sandals and a t-shirt.   As someone who fishes in the dead of winter, I can’t help but being struck by the stark contrasts in our fishing seasons.    The variety of warm water, cold water, and migratory fish makes the Muskegon River a great place to fish at any time.

If you are interested in smallmouth bass fishing, we have trips available throughout the remainder of the summer months.   August is prime time for numbers of fish, with some of the largest fish often caught in September.

Tight Lines!—Kevin Feenstra

Summer smallmouth bass are some of the most exciting fish to catch!

The post About this Summer’s Smallmouth Fishing appeared first on FEENSTRA GUIDE SERVICE.

Many of you have come to know our guides, this is a chance to get to know them a little better.

Here is a list of events that Feenstra Guide Service participates in:

-January 13&14:  We will have a booth and be giving presentations at the West Michigan Fly Show.  Kevin Feenstra will be giving a presentation on the Muskegon River.  In addition, Matt Zudweg will have a fly tying booth demonstrating some of his  great patterns.

-January 16:  Kevin Feenstra will be speaking at the Duneland Fly Fishers

-January 17:  Kevin Feenstra will be speaking at the St. Joe River Valley Fly Fishers

-January 20&21:  Feenstra Guide Service will have booth space at the Heartland Fly Fishing Festival in Indianapolis, Indiana.  Kevin Feenstra will be giving presentations at this show.

-January 24:  Drew Rosema will be tying at the Muskegon River Fly Shop

-January 27:  Matt Zudweg will be giving a fly tying demonstration at the Cabelas in Dundee from 10AM-2PM

-January 27:  Kevin Feenstra will be giving a fly tying class in at the Croton Township Library in Croton, Michigan.   Inquire at the Croton Public Library for information

-February 3:   Kevin Feenstra will be doing a fly tying demonstration at Nomad Anglers

-February 8:  Kevin Feenstra is speaking at the Vanguard TU chapter

February 10:  Matt Zudweg will give a fly tying class at Nomad Anglers in Grand Rapids, Michigan

-February 10:  Feenstra Guide Service will have booth at the 3RFF Fly Show in Ft. Wayne, Indiana

-February 15:  Drew Rosema will be giving a demonstration at the Kalamazoo Valley Trout Unlimited Chapter

-February 17:  Drew Rosema will be giving a fly tying seminar at the St. Joe River Valley Fly Fishers

-February 17:  Kevin Feenstra will be giving a fly tying demo at the Dundee Cabelas

-February 19:  Kevin Feenstra will be giving a fly tying demo at the Northern Angler in Traverse City, Michigan

-February 21:  Matt Zudweg will give a fly tying class at the Muskegon River Fly Shop

-February 24:  Matt Zudweg and Kevin Feenstra will be tying flies at the Fly Tying Celebration in Grand Rapids, Michigan

-March 10&11:  Feenstra Guide Service will have booth space at the Midwest Fly Fishing Expo.  Kevin Feenstra will be presenting

-March 17:  Kevin Feenstra will be at the Muskegon River Fly Shop

The post Upcoming Events appeared first on FEENSTRA GUIDE SERVICE.

Matt is available for guiding year around.   He loves to fish and guide for smallmouth bass!

The post Balsa is Not Dead appeared first on FEENSTRA GUIDE SERVICE.

Come See Matt tying some flies on February 16 at Schmohz Brewery.

On February 16, Matt Zudweg will be tying flies at the Schmohz Brewery at an event put on by Nomad Anglers.     The event  will go from 6-9PM, and Matt will be primarily be tying bass flies.    The Address for this event is Schmohz Brewery, 2600 Patterson Avenue SE, Grand Rapids, MI  49546.

Matt is a great fly tier and is passionate about bass flies.   This would be a great event for beginners and experienced fly tiers alike.     Contact Nomad Anglers in Grand Rapids at 616.805.4393 for more information.

Events of interest are as follows:

February 13–Kevin Feenstra will be tying flies at Cabelas in Grandville, Michigan from 10AM until 3PM.

February 16–Matt Zudweg at Schmohz in Grand Rapids, Michigan.

February 20, 21–We will have booth space at the Great American Fly Fishing Expo in Indianapolis.

February 27–We will be tying flies at the Fly Tying Celebration in Grand Rapids, Michigan.

We would love to see you at any of these events!

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