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May 10, 2009 10:56 pm US/Central
Finding Minnesota: Casting A Line With 'The Griz'
(WCCO)
If the walleye and northern weren't exactly jumping on your lines during this weekend's fishing opener, you might want to spend a day with a legendary Minnesota fishing guide.
Dick Gryzwinski is a hall of fame fisherman who doesn't have too many stories of "the big one that got away."
The 67-year-old, also known as "the Griz," has been fishing longer than he's been walking.
"I been on the boat since I was 3 months old," he said with his thick Minnesota accent. "My ma and dad fished like I do right now. I fished all my life."
The Griz has taught some very well-known people some of his fishing techniques, including former Minnesota Twins Kent Hrbek and Jack Morris.
"I've taken the vice president of the United States, Walter Mondale. And Billy Martin used to be my first real big celebrity."
The Griz is enshrined in the National Fresh Water Fishing Hall of Fame in Hayward, Wis. The walls of his home are lined with large mounted fish, including an 11-and-a-half-pound walleye.
"Lot of people never caught one 11 and a half pounds," he says. "I've caught some bigger, but I don't need any more mounted fish. I got what I got now. That's enough."
He also displays a 22-pound northern that he somehow pulled through a hole in the ice of Chisago Lake.
The Griz studies fish, analyzes fish and adapts to the changes he sees on the lakes and rivers. When people hire him for the day to be their guide, the fishing is done his way.
"Yesterday I had a fellow out and he come with the old canister reels and bait caster. And I said 'You ain't taking that with you.' He said, 'Well that's what I like to fish with.' And I says, 'Well today you're going to learn a new way to fish.'"
The Griz goes out just about every day as a fishing guide. He likes to pass along his knowledge of fishing and hopes it's not a dying sport.
"The fishing industry's still pretty strong," he says, "but the upcoming kids are, I don't know ... It seems like they're staying home and watching video games and stuff. You don't see the kids out here fishing like when I was a kid."
The Griz plans to be out here until his dying days. And then some.
"I'm going to get cremated when I go and have whoever around put me in a river, and some in Mille Lacs and Winnibigoshish and all the places where I've been."
(© MMIX, CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved.)
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