Last Sunday, Mike Klingaman, reporter for Baltimore Sun, produced a monologue about his old Baltimore Sun cohort and friend of over 40 years, Bernard “Lefty” Kreh. The ‘story’ is the personification of who Lefty is.
In a subsequent email correspondence Mike wrote: Skip, thanks for the note about fishing’s answer to Artie Donovan. Before we started, I told Lefty that my fishing expertise consisted of one summer of impaling bloodworms on a hook on a bamboo pole and catching sunfish as a kid at our family’s cabin on Bodkin Creek in Anne Arundel County. “Excuse me if I ask stupid questions,” I told Lefty. His response? “There are no stupid questions, only stupid answers.” None of which were forthcoming.
‘Lefty’ Kreh recounts nearly 70 years of fishing for dorado, tarpon and one pterodactyl
By Mike Klingaman
[dropcap]T[/dropcap]here are few anglers more revered than Frederick native Bernard “Lefty” Kreh. Kreh, who turned 90 last month, has fished for nearly 70 years with everyone from Ted Williams to Fidel Castro, and from President Jimmy Carter to Ernest Hemingway. Enshrined in numerous fishing Halls of Fame, he has been honored by the U.S. Postal Service, which issued a stamp commemorating a fly that Kreh made.
On Saturday, he took part in the annual Lefty Kreh TieFest in Grasonville. The Baltimore Sun sat down with the Cockeysville resident to discuss some of the highlights of his career.
Mike Klingaman: You’ve fished in all 50 states and around the world, from Russia to the Amazon to Christmas Island. Is there any continent where you haven’t fished?
Antarctica. Ain’t nothin’ to catch there but penguins.
MK: Where is your favorite place to fish?
New Guinea. I’ve been there five times. It’s so remote, the tribes live like they did 2,000 years ago. The men still hunt with bows and arrows. They believe fishing is beneath them, so the women do it, with nets. The New Guinea bass is the strongest fish I ever caught. You can’t hold on to it with regular tackle. Twice, it broke my 20-pound line, so I used 40, hooked the fish, wrapped the line twice around my reel and used the boat to tow it into the open. After two or three minutes, he gave up. Once I had a 16-pounder on the line when another New Guinea bass that must’ve weighed 100 pounds came out while I was fighting it, decided it would be his dinner, broke the line and ate it.
Dr. Aaron Adams, Director of Operations of Bonefish & Tarpon Trust and a Research Associate Professor at Florida Institute of Technology, discusses the future of flats fisheries in the Florida Keys with Lefty Kreh. A Fly Life Magazine photo 2013.
MK: What’s the highest elevation where you’ve fished?
At 10,000 feet, for golden trout in mountain streams in the Rockies.
MK: You’ve caught 126 different species with a fly rod. Is there one you’ve tried to hook but haven’t?
The golden dorado. The big ones live in the upper Amazon watershed. Both times I went, there were torrential rains so I decided God didn’t want me to catch a dorado.
MK: What is the biggest fish you’ve ever caught?
A 145-pound tarpon, in the Gulf of Mexico. It took 40 minutes to get him in and I sounded like a preacher at a revival meeting the whole time. I was more worn out than the fish. We put him back (in the water). What else can you do? Tarpon aren’t edible.
MK: What else have you hooked?
Rays, sharks and birds. Once I caught a pterodactyl. I was in a big room of the Cincinnati Museum of Natural History, talking to about 60 people when I made a back cast with a fly line. It hooked this skeleton hanging from the ceiling. I just laid my rod on the ground and walked away. (Workers) climbed a ladder and cut the line, but I think the fly is still up there. I guess I’m the only guy who ever caught a dinosaur.
MK: How often do you eat what you catch?
Almost never. I like flounder, but I don’t fish for them much. Besides, I (throw) my fish back. You don’t burn your golf balls at the end of the day, do you?
Lefty always fishes with Steve Kantner when in South Florida. The Fica berries are red ripe and falling into a canal west of Ft. Lauderdale. Chinese grass carp in the 40-pound bracket get fooled by Steve’s imitation berry. Here Lefty has one on. Steve Kantner photo.
MK: What is the coldest place you’ve ever fished?
Probably Maryland. In the middle of winter, the big smallmouth bass concentrate in little pockets of eddys. It’s been colder than a bad mother-in-law’s heart when I was out there. I did learn to ice-fish so I could write about it — but as soon as I did, I was done with it.
MK: You’ve taught thousands of people to fish. Who make better anglers, men or women?
Women learn three times faster than men. Men shoot off their mouths all the time. Women are much better listeners than we are and a whole lot smarter. Besides, fly casting really doesn’t require strength.
MK: Ever fished in water where you were standing up to your neck?
When you’re 5 feet 6, it don’t take long for the water to get up that high. Once, going for trout in the Madison River in Yellowstone, I made a big mistake of fishing with a guy who was 6 feet 5. Well, I was walking right along with him when, all of a sudden, the water was over my waders. He was fly fishing and I was swimming. Remember, if you’re out in any kind of a current, you don’t want to wade over your hips because you get buoyant and lose control.
MK: You’ve fished with dozens of celebrities and CEOs. Name a few.
One of the craziest was Ted Williams. I worked at The Miami Herald when he called and, in a voice that sounded like God, said, “This is Ted Williams.” I said, “So?” He said, “I hear you’re the best fly fisherman around and I’d like to fish with you. Be here at 8 o’clock tomorrow.” I said, “What do you look like?” I could tell he was aggravated with me.
You’ve got to read on – there’s photo’s and videos you don’t want to miss . . .
About the author
Mike Klingaman, a native Marylander, grew up in Catonsville in Baltimore County and has known Lefty ever since he came to The Sun. He’s a sports enterprise reporter and has worked for the Baltimore Sun for 44 years.
Check out Steve Kantner’s book, The Ultimate Guide to Fishing South Florida on Foot
