"Fishing the Fond-Du-Lac River for Grayling."               Author's Photo

I spent hours teaching the native guides and fishermen how to catch grayling and also how to release them properly. The native guides knew very little about the fish, and had never experienced the use of artificial flies for bait. In June there are few insects around except for mosquitoes, and the grayling readily take small spinners and jigs. After July 1 there are very heavy hatches of Mayflies, blackflies, and caddis flies, and the grayling feed more on insects on the surface. This is the time to put away the spinners and jigs and switch to dry flies. I use either a flyrod or an ultralight spinning outfit with a float and a fly. I found that it really didn't matter what flies I used; as long as they would float, they would catch fish. Spinners continue to work all summer. Soon the native guides were convinced that my method worked best; so they went to 1" to 11/2" red and white floats, with a fly about 3' beyond. Some still used their heavy equipment and 20-lb test line, and they did catch some grayling, but not as many as the ones using bobbers and flies. Before the summer was over, the guides insisted I go along whenever they were taking anyone fishing for grayling.

My favourite place to take people was Elizabeth Falls. The scenery there is breathtaking, and the grayling fishing was always excellent.

A couple of summers later, Tom Osborne, coach of the Nebraska football team, came to Morberg's for a fishing trip. A camera crew came along to make a tape of his trip. The first two days of their trip were so windy that they were forced to stay off Black Lake and fish the river. They had extremely good fishing and the scenery shots along the river made the show. Later, the cameraman told me that they probably would not have even taken part in the grayling fishing without the wind. They came wanting to fish for the big "northerns" and lake trout. As it turned out he felt that the first two days were the best part of the trip.

In the years I worked at Morberg's as a "fishing pro" I always encouraged the fishermen to spend at least one day on the river fishing for grayling. None were disappointed, and many spent more days on the river than the lake. Many returned year after year to fish for feisty grayling.