Local resident donates decades-old mounted grayling to the library

Local resident John Wejrowski – with the opening day of trout fishing season approaching – last week donated a decades-old mounted grayling fish to the Devereaux Crawford County Library.

Wejrowski, the President of Fred Bear Day Inc., said he’s had the grayling for several years and decided to donate it so more people would be able to view it.

Wejrowski said he was “yard sale-ing” in the early 2000s on M-72 East and came across the mounted fish. The grayling is now extinct in local waters.

“I bought this grayling from a guy named George Easterly. He owned cabins and said the fish came out of a cabin once occupied by Rube Babbitt,” Wejrowski said. “I saw it and I was like, wow.”

Babbitt was a game warden and river guide in the area during the late 1800s, and Wejrowski thinks the mounted grayling is more than a century old.

“I felt it had some historical significance and the library would be a good place to put it,” Wejrowski said.

Library Director Connie Meyer said the facility has been blessed with many quality donations over the years, including Friday’s addition from Wejrowski.

“I whole-heartedly appreciate John considering adding it to our fly fishing collection,” Meyer said. “This entire collection is world-renowned and this is one of the crowning donations.”

Meyer said the mounted grayling will not immediately be available for viewing because the library is working on getting a Plexiglass cover to protect it.

The Devereaux Library will host a trout opener celebration event on Friday, April 28, during open hours from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. The event will be a meet and greet format with light refreshments, a silent auction, and a slide show, Meyer said. The library will also be open on the first day of trout fishing season (Saturday, April 29) from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m., offering people another opportunity to view the facility’s special wing dedicated to fishing.