in the Chesapeake Bay near Crisfield in the late 1950s, the Maryland native developed a fly now known around the world as “Lefty’s Deceiver.” The long feathers used on flies back then had a habit of wrapping around the hook and tangling. Kreh’s design, which imi- tated a baitfish, was tied with bucktail hair and saddle hackles in such a way that it didn’t foul. “Lefty’s Deceiver” soon spread from the Chesapeake Bay to waters around the globe, and it has since served as the prototype for count- less other flies. The U.S. Postal Service thought enough of Kreh’s brainchild to feature it on a 29-cent stamp in 1991. By any fish bum’s standard, Kreh has


managed to cram a dozen lifetimes of fishing into one. He has cast a line in all 50 states and every Canadian province. He’s authored more than two dozen


provide Kreh with the thrill of a life- time. For Brokaw, it was the other way around. He told Outside Magazine that fishing with Kreh was “like going to the batting cages with Ted Williams.”


Anglers who know his name might expect Kreh to make his home on the banks of the Yellowstone River in Montana, or on an island lined with mangroves in the Florida Keys. But for 37 years, he and his wife, Evelyn, have lived in a small house with a boat in the driveway in suburban Cockeysville, down the street from a middle school and a couple of shopping centers. The immediate area doesn’t offer


much in the way of fishing, aside from a few private ponds that hold panfish. Instead, Kreh has stayed here largely for its proximity to Baltimore-Wash-


“This is not a muscle sport. Once you understand that, you can fish for anything.”


books. From Bangor, Maine, to the tip of Argentina, Kreh is probably the most respected figure in his sport. At an age when most anglers have


people that fly-casting isn’t the esoteric and mystical sport that it’s often made out to be. (A prime example is Brad Pitt in the 1992 film “A River Runs Through It,” waving his rod as if it were a conduc- tor’s baton over a lilting score.) Working off a small handful of unchanging prin- ciples, Kreh continues to proselytize with his simple casting method. “Lefty really single-handedly made


fly-casting and fly-fishing more avail- able to more people than anyone else in history,” says his friend Flip Pallot, a highly regarded angler in his own right. Kreh’s influence extends well beyond mere casting. Fishing for striped bass


hung up their waders, Kreh is still flown around the hemisphere — Maine, Ten- nessee, Alaska, the Caribbean — where he’s asked to help titans of industry with their casts, give presentations to private fishing clubs, and generally hold court with his stories and tips. “There’s al- ways another innovative way,” he says. “The fish get smarter; you need to get smarter.” Among his more high-profile jun-


kets was one to the Abaco Islands in the Bahamas last year. ESPN was filming a series about fly-fishing for bonefish called “Pirates of the Flats,” which aired this past winter. The band of pirates in- cluded newsman Tom Brokaw, novelist Thomas McGuane, Patagonia founder Yvon Chouinard, actor Michael Keaton, and Kreh, who served as the resident expert on the boat. One might think that fishing with such luminaries would


ington International Marshall Airport. Still traveling to lecture and fish half the weeks of the year, he keeps his tackle bags color-coded and at the ready. The walls inside Kreh’s home are


slathered with fishing artifacts. At first glance, the den seems to display Kreh’s love for the sport: a replica of a mam- moth tarpon hovers above the couch, surrounded by elaborate flies encased in glass. But on closer inspection, what the ornaments really reveal is the sport’s love for Kreh. Consider one of the framed “Dear Lefty” letters hanging on the walls. It starts as if penned by a young boy: “I doubt I will ever be lucky enough


to fish with you, but I sure would love that some day. Thank you for signing Presenting the Fly and, indeed, for in- cluding a fly tied for George W. I am disinclined to take the fly out of the book, so I will make George W. Bush co-owner of this volume. But he will have to read it at our house.” The let- ter was signed by George H.W. Bush


September 19, 2010 | The WAshingTOn POsT MAgAzine 27


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