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.

This was a very unusual fall, as they all seem to be lately.   Many of the steelhead were initially small, and the water was very low and extremely clear.     We also had a ton of leaves this fall and a lot of sunshine.   These were a lot of challenges with the fishing conditions.  

For quite a few years, I have been using perch colored flashabou on sunny and leafy days.     For whatever reason, the perch flashabou, which is a combination of red, yellow, and green flash, was a top producer in these tough conditions long after the leaves were gone.  

This Perch and Orange is a simple fly pattern that is great way to utilize perch flashabou.   I really like the hot orange kraken dubbing used on the front of the fly.    

Perch and Orange Pattern:   

Shank:  Short, 25-35mm of your choice.  This fly can also be tied on a size 1 Daiichi 2461 if you prefer a traditional hook

Tail:   Damsel colored marabou or dark olive rabbit strip

Tail Flash:   (Optional)  A strand of red saltwater flashabou

Body:   Green and yellow dubbing of your choice

Flash:  1/69 orange holosheen

Flash 2:   Perch flashabou or magnum perch holographic flashabou

Flash 3:  Optional aqua polar flash or other green flash

Eyes:  Bead chain or lead eyes, tied 1/3 of the way back from the eye

Head:   Hot Pink and Hot orange Kraken dubbing.   I also have tied this fly in larger sizes with Hot orange and Hot Pink Marabou and that has also been successful. 

Usually when I find a good color combination, that works on a particular year, I convert it to the various formats of flies that I like to use, to suit the conditions.    This includes spey flies, sculpins, and baitfish profiles.   

If you would like to see more fly patterns, please see our fly page.   Also, if you are in Michigan on February 3 and 4, check out the Bobbin the Hood event at Schultz Outfitters.   At this event, you will get to see many of the best fly tiers in the region.   

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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. 

The post Some gear is game changing – Heated gloves appeared first on FEENSTRA GUIDE SERVICE.

This is a very simple fly but it can be very effective as a swung fly tied on a shank or as a nymph tied on a hook.

When I first started fishing the Muskegon for steelhead, my fly selection was pretty limited. Back then if you looked in my box you would see a variety of eggs, ice minnows, small sculpins, and peacock buggers. That’s about it! Depending on the time of year, one or the other of those options would usually get it done. One fly outshined the rest of them. No matter what time of the year it was, I always had confidence when there was a peacock bugger on the end of my line. Not much has changed since then. Whether you are swinging flies, or nymphing this simple twist on the old classic is a great option to have in your box.

Steelhead can often leave you scratching your head. Throughout the season there are periods when they seem to bite anything that comes into view, and periods when its hard to buy a bite. Over the years, in the the tough times I have riffled through my boxes in search of something to peak their interest. Often if I pick a peacock bugger it gets the job done.

I think the reason that woolly buggers work so well is that the can represent a wide variety of different things. Add a color combo that is well proven in the Muskegon, and you have a great fly. A bugger swung or drifted around the gravel in the fall can look like a leech. They can imitate baitfish and helgramites. On days in the spring when the stonefly nymphs are really swimming, it’s a great bet to have a small peacock bugger on your line. 

When you think of good swinging flies for steelhead you might typically think of big, bright, and flashy patterns. Well those flies do catch plenty of fish, there are periods of the season when i have been leaning towards smaller and sparser flies. When the fish are seeing a lot of pressure and traffic on the water. Or when the water is very clear, I typically will lean towards flies like these.

This year we had a long period of ultra clear water. I had been guiding swung fly trips every day, and had been really working hard to get fish to bite. I had one day of nymph fishing in between all of the swinging trips. I hadn’t nymph fished in close to two months, so I was a little out of the loop on which flies would produce. The first thing in the morning I put some flies on I thought would be productive. We fished till lunch with only a few trout to hand. After lunch I decided to tie on the old standard peacock bugger. Throughout the afternoon we hooked fish in most of the spots we tried. They all were on the peacock bugger. I knew after that one day of nymphing I was back to swinging flies for the next few weeks. So that night I tied a handful of copper peacock buggers on shanks for swinging. The next day we hooked a fish on one of the first few casts on a shank style peacock bugger. 

This fly worked well for me for the rest of the late fall/early winter. Hopefully having a few in your box will help you find a fish on the tough days.

Peacock Bugger Materials List:

Hook: 1″ Shank or 2X Strong Wet Fly Hook Size 4-8

Loop: 40-50lb Braid tied about the same length as the shank.

Optional Weight: Tungsten or Brass Cone depending on water levels. This fly is just as effective when it is tied unweighted. I typically use unweighted flies when I tie them on a hook and use them for nymphing.

Tail: 3/4″ Piece of Black Rabbit Strip, or Black Marabou. When I need to tie a bunch of these I like to pre-cut a bunch of tails out of rabbit strips.

Flash: A few strands of copper Flashabou is most effective for me but don’t be afraid to experiment with other flashes.

Hackle: Brown Schlappen or Strung Saddle Hackle palmered through the body.

Body: Peacock Ice Dubbing

Kevin shot this great photo of a fish that was recently caught on a Peacock Bugger

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