First Cast Coming Right Up!

The time is finally here! We've been waiting all season for our First Cast Youth Fishing School which begins next week. We think it is important to reach out to others in sharing the sport of fly fishing and, in doing so, preserving our rivers. In order to sustain this resource, we must educate younger generations. As mentioned in a previous blog entry, our program is modeled after Fly Fisher Apprentice Program director Phil Genova's book "First Cast."

Our topics include fly tying, fly casting, and environmental education. One mentor group is coming all the way from Tennessee. They're a father/daughter combination and will be touring New Brunswick and St. John - including whale watching and seeing the tide at the Bay of Fundy - before joining us in the rapids for the school.

We hope next week's school will positively impact the groups' fly-fishing experiences, and connect them with the river for many years to come. Look forward to a post-school report!

Bald Eagles on Miramichi River

Bald Eagle. Source: Wikipedia

Along our stretch of the Miramichi River, we’ve enjoyed observing a family (three juvenile bolides and two mature eagles) of bald eagles since opening the lodge in April.  As bald eagle populations have begun resurrecting in Canada over the past few years, we’ve begun to associate their presence with their primary food source – fish. This excites us, for obvious reasons, but we’ve also gained additional respect for nature: even when we think fish are absent from the river, a bald eagle will swoop down from nowhere and return to the sky with the family meal. (They didn’t get the “catch and release” memo, apparently!)

Here’s a snippet of information from a Canadian government fact sheet on the bald eagle.

The scientific name for this powerful predator is Haliaeetus leucocephalus. (Haliaeetus means “sea eagle” and leucocephalus means “white head”.) Adult females are generally larger than the males, though both have the same characteristic plumage. The juvenile birds are a mixture of brown and white until they reach four or five years of age. At maturity, between four and eight years of age, the birds have dark brown feathers on their bodies and wings, snow-white feathers on their heads and tails, and yellow legs, eyes and beaks. As singular as their appearance, the eagles’ call is a haunting series of high-pitched cries, similar to a gull’s call but delivered more quickly and with more apparent urgency.

To read more about the history of the bald eagle in New Brunswick check out this link.

Other birds we see regularly include osprey and cormorant (and many more). Come see them with us!