• September 10, 2024:   Kevin Feenstra will be speaking at the Holland Audubon Club.  The talk will be titled “The Birds, Mammals, and Fish of the Muskegon River”.   More information can be found here. 
• September 17, 2024:   Kevin Feenstra will be speaking to the Muskegon Nature Club.   The program will be titled “The Beauty and Biology of the Muskegon River”.   More information can be found here. 
• September 23, 2024:  Kevin will be giving a fall fishing presentation to Schrem’s Trout Unlimited in Grand Rapids, Michigan.    This talk will be a good primer for the change of seasons.
• September 28:   Kevin Feenstra will be presenting at Spey Fest.  This event is held at Henning Park in Newaygo, Michigan, and is free to the public.   It is a great way to learn spey fishing techniques and casting.   In addition, Matt Zudweg will be tying flies at this event.    

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

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A New Logo and Upcoming Events for Feenstra Guide Service

Thanks to the artwork of guide Matt Zudweg, Feenstra Guide Service is sporting a new logo.   We will be taking this artwork on the road, as our guides appear at various events around the Midwest:   

January 16:   Kevin Feenstra will be giving a presentation about the ecology of the Muskegon River for the Muskegon County Nature Club.      This will feature images and video clips from around the Muskegon River watershed, and there will be birds, mammals, fish, and insects featured in this colorful show.   This program is open to the public and will take place in Grand Haven, Michigan. 

January 18:  Kodie Kowitz will be giving a fly tying presentation at Nomad Anglers. 

January 20:   Matt Zudweg will be giving a tying demo, and Kevin Feenstra will be giving a presentation at the Heartland Fly Fishing Festival, in Lebanon, Indiana.    This is a really nice show put on by Project Healing Waters.   Drew Rosema will also be present at this event.   

January 25:  Drew Rosema will be tying flies at Nomad Anglers in Grand Rapids, Michigan. 

January 27:  Matt Zudweg will be giving a fly tying demo at Moving Waters Outfitters in Zionsville, Indiana. 

February 3 and 4:   Drew Rosema, Matt Zudweg, Kodie Kowitz, and Kevin Feenstra will be at the Bobbin the Hood event at Schultz Outfitters on January 3.  This will be a great event if you like fly tying! 

February 14:  Kevin Feenstra will be giving a program for the North Branch Boys, near Toledo, Ohio.

February 23:   Kevin Feenstra will be giving a program at the Remembrance Church Sportsmen’s Dinner. 

February 24:   Kodie Kowitz will be doing a fly tying demo at Oakbrooke TU in Illinois. 

February 24:  Kevin Feenstra will be giving a program and tying flies for a group in Canton, Ohio.   Please inquire with Kevin if you are in that area and wish to attend. 

February 29:  Joni Murray will be giving a fly tying demo at Nomad Anglers. 

March 9, 10:  We will have booth space at the Michigan Fly Fishing Club Expo in Warren, Michigan.   Kevin may be presenting there as well. 

Stay tuned for more upcoming events for Feenstra Guide Service!  If you would like to learn more about our guides, click here.    We hope to see you at these events! 

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The post One of Matt’s favorite Sculpin patterns for Steelhead appeared first on FEENSTRA GUIDE SERVICE.

These are the Materials used to tie the Flight Risk:   

Hook:   Size 1, 2, or 4  3xl streamer hook such as Daiichi 2461

Weight:   Lead eyes or off center tungsten bead of your choice (this type of weight is needed to invert the hook)

Tail:   Natural gray/brown deer body hair

Body:   1 or 2 colors of ice dub.   For my fishing here, shrimp pink/yellow or olive/brown are a good combination, or just a solid color of olive.    

Wing:   tan or ginger marabou tuft

Tying Instructions for the Flight Risk:   

1.   If you are using an oblong bead, move it up the shank and behind the eye.   Lash it down tightly so that the heavy part of the bead causes the weight to be on top of the shank.  Secure it with a drop of glue.   I usually use normal viscosity zap a gap for this sort of thing. 
2. Dub one color of ice dub, and move it down the hook to the just past the very beginning of the bend.     
3. Tie in a tuft of deer hair just above the bend.    
4. (optional) If you are using a second color of ice dub, dub it tightly onto the thread, and move it forward in segments to separate the fly into two colors.   
5. Tie in marabou underneath the fly
6. Finish the fly

Fleeing crayfish will grab a smallmouth’s attention, even when they are unwilling to take anything else. This crayfish pattern is meant to imitate this.

About the Flight Risk:

One of the most common questions I get in the summer from clients and anglers is which crayfish pattern to use.

The Muskegon River is full of crayfish, and I can remember fishing crayfish patterns in this river nearly 30 years ago. I often made flies that were too brightly colored or too complicated. As the smallmouth end of the business grew, it became apparent that a good crayfish pattern, fished deliberately, can save the day when a fish won’t take a streamer or a popper. After a lot of trial and error with patterns, this clawless, fleeing crayfish pattern became a mainstay in my box.

The Flight Risk ticks a lot of boxes for me: it is versatile, and can be fished in strips, with the hop/float method, or can be slow swung and twitched through deeper areas with a sink tip. Another necessary feature for me is that any crayfish pattern be easy to tie. There is a lot of timber in the Muskegon, so you don’t want to waste time tying elaborate crayfish patterns that might end up stuck in a log on your first cast.

Given the choice, I much prefer fishing crayfish that are lacking claws, or at least have small claws, and this one has no claws whatsoever. The Flight Risk represents a slow moving, easy meal for any willing fish.

Thanks for reading this post! If you enjoy this type of content, please visit our fly patterns section.

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We have several upcoming fly fishing presentations that we would love to have you attend:

February 16, 2022: Kevin will be tying flies with Schultz Outfitters Cybarflies and will be tying a baitfish pattern. In this case, he will be tying a goby pattern that has been successful through the winter months.

February 17, 2022: Kevin will be presenting for the Three Rivers Fly Fishing Club in Ft. Wayne, Indiana. His talk will focus on smallmouth bass. The talk will include what the fish eat as well as techniques and equipment we use in West Michigan.

February 19, 2022: Kevin will be signing books at Newaygo Fly and Tackle. This is a great shop in Newaygo and he will be on hand from 10AM until 2PM. The store will have books on hand and also has a nice selection of flies and tackle for our region.

March 5, 2022: Kevin has an upcoming fly fishing presentation at the North Coast Fly Fishers Expo in the Cleveland area. He will also have a booth.

March 12 & 13: Feenstra Guide Service will have a booth at the Midwest Fly Fishing Expo and Kevin will be presenting. Kevin will also be on hand for a book signing session at the author’s booth. He will also have copies of Matching Baitfish on hand.

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2022 Begins–2021 was a unique year; I doubt that anyone can dispute that. Our fishing had its ups and downs this past year. 2021 began with a modest steelhead run and very low water. In fact, our water was so low in April that navigation was more difficult than it is in mid summer. That low water continued into late spring. Though our trout fishing was good, it was entirely sub surface with wet flies, nymphs, and streamers. The dry fly fishing never materialized. Our premiere insect, the gray drake is a mysterious bug in many ways. Some years it comes off by the billions, other years not so much. Our summer smallmouth fishing was very consistent, and other species such as northern pike were numerous. The chinook salmon run was poor, but we had some coho around again this fall and that was a bright spot. The steelhead fishing has been pretty steady since their arrival in mid October. It was better than the last two years for our program. However, it still has a ways to go to have runs like we had a decade ago.

I write this as we head into seemingly normal winter. It is very cold right now and we have snow on the ground. 2022 begins with the hope of snowmelt and a strong spring. Winter makes the first half of the year fish better. If we have a cold winter with a good bit of snow, then our steelhead and trout fishing will be more consistent in the spring. If we have a dry winter, this usually translates the spring fishing into peaks and valleys (as in 2021).

Thanks to everyone who fished with us in 2021, and let’s hope for good fishing in 2022!

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One of the coolest things I have ever seen!

Early last spring, there was a lull in the fishing.  Our steelhead fishing was not where it should be, the weather was cold, and I was spending some time photographing waterfowl.     West Michigan has a dazzling array of water birds in the spring, and I was seeing northern shovelers, wood ducks, scaup, redheads, canvasbacks, and many other species.     Though I was seeing thousands of ducks, I was seeing very few birds of prey. 

That all changed one day.  As I watched a tremendous flock of ducks, I noticed a huge bird hovering over the edge of the flock.  There, an adult eagle was hunting.  

Eagles grow very old, and it clearly had a plan for hunting the bird it selected.    I like to photograph ducks on very windy days, because they have to take off and land into the wind.   The wind slows them down and makes them more predictable.   Out of the thousands of ducks at this location, this eagle had singled out one coot and separated it from rest of the birds.   There the bird of prey used the wind to swoop up and down at the coot, while expending very little energy.   The bird was terrified, and would only come up for a breath at a time.    The eagle was cunning, and easily wore its prey out by swooping down repetitively.   Finally the eagle made a move, and swooped down on the coot.    

It seized the coot, but lost it!   I was actually happy it missed because in the excitement of the moment, I realized that the shutter speed on the camera was too slow.    Soon the coot popped up again, and the eagle was ready.   So was I.       It was one of the most exciting things I have ever seen in nature.    If you take the time to spend time quietly on the edge of the water, or in the woods, you can see amazing things.   This is part of what makes fishing, hunting, and other outdoor activities such a rich part of our experience..     

To see more of this series of photos of the eagle and the coot, or to see waterfowl images, visit https://kevinfeenstra.smugmug.com/Whats-New.

Thanks for visiting our site!–Kevin Feenstra

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January 23: Kevin Feenstra will be doing a tying demo in conjunction with Nomad Anglers in Grand Rapids.

January 31:  Kevin will present at Ohio Central Basin Steelheaders

February 7:   Kevin is speaking in Pentwater for the Hackler’s

February 9: Ft. Wayne Show:  We will have a booth at this show put on by the Three Rivers Fly Fishers

February 12:  Kevin is speaking at  Schrem’s Trout Unlimited chapter in GR:

February 13:  Schultz outfitters:   Kevin will be doing a fly tying program here

February 21:   Three Rivers FF:    Kevin Will be giving a presentation for this club

February 23:   Kevin will be presenting for the Duneland Fly Fishers in Valparaiso, Indiana

March 2:   MRO:   Kevin will be doing demonstrations and a program for Moving Waters Outfitters in Zionsville, Indiana.

March 9, 10:  We will be doing programs and have booth space and the Midwest Fly Fishing Expo, in Warren, Michigan.

March 14:  Vangaurd TU:    Kevin will be presenting here.

April 6:  Castapaloosa in Cleveland, Ohio.   Kevin will be doing a program here.

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The Grande Ronde is well known for its amazing scenery and Steelhead and the chance at catching them on surface flies. We will be fishing our way through the high desert canyons and camping both nights along the river.

Dec Hogan is well known for being an innovator in west coast steelhead fishing. Each day Dec will spend about an hour giving us a Spey Clinic while we break for lunch.

The rate for this trip is $2000 per person. This includes all camping gear except a sleeping bag. All the food is provided and the camp is set up ahead of us while we enjoy the day of fishing. Fly into Lewiston Idaho and enjoy the short ride across the state line and down into the river valley.

To book your spot for this trip or for more information please contact Drew Rosema at 616-318-1435 or at drew@feenstraguideservice.com

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West Michigan Fly Show this weekend!

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