My Dinner with Lefty
In 1991 I was invited to dinner by one of my longtime clients, Mitch Howell. Mitch was by far one of the best bonefish anglers I had ever fished with. This was confirmed by his multiple tournament victories in the 1980s and ‘90s. He was the only client who told me to come down from the platform to cast while he was hooked up, which enabled the only guide/client bonefish double in my career thus far. Mitch was the financial advisor to Lefty Kreh, Flip Pallot, and a bunch of other people. He knew Lefty, and he knew that Lefty would be in town for a casting demonstration. Mitch also knew that I would be a nervous wreck, so he didn’t initially tell me that the dinner plans included Lefty Kreh.
Mitch planned a meeting at Burt & Jacks, Burt Reynold’s fancy steakhouse in Fort Lauderdale, which was already a problem for me. You see, I like my steak well done, and when you order a well done steak at a place like this, you get that annoyed look from the waiter; the chef looks out from the kitchen to see who is ruining this piece of meat. It’s pretty uncomfortable.
To make matters even worse, Mitch leaned over as we were getting out of the car and said to me in a stern voice, “Just don’t embarrass me by ordering your steak well done.”
So there I was at a table in a fancy steak house with Lefty and Mitch.
My palms were sweating before the waiter even approached, and now he was at the table asking to take our orders. He started with Mitch, who ordered his steak black and blue, which is burned on the outside and bloody on the inside The waiter turned to Lefty and asked, “And you, sir?”
Lefty quipped, “I want my steak the color of your apron.”
The waiter, wearing a black apron asked, “Well done?”
“Not just well done,” Lefty replied, “extra well done.”
I instantly felt my body relax as my palms dried up.
Mitch had known all of this and just let the drama play out, but the result of his fun was my introduction to the legendary Lefty Kreh.
Once the steaks arrived, both Lefty and I sent them back for addition cooking—and once more after that. While waiting for our entrees, Lefty and I ate onion rings and shared fishing stories. Mitch quietly and competently finished off his meal, content that his introduction was successful. With our mutual agreement that overcooked meat was better, Lefty and I were kindred spirits.
On the Skiff
After dinner, Lefty said he would be back in Florida soon and would be in touch. He wasn’t lying, it was only matter of months before he contacted me with his arrival information.
I first guided Lefty in 1992. We fished regularly when he came to Florida both in Miami (Biscayne Bay) and, after my wife and I moved our residence, in Islamorada. I picked him up and dropped him off at the airport, and he stayed at my place when he was in town. It was always a pleasure to host Lefty, and we developed a friendship that would last for decades. I don’t know about all of his fishing trips, but we fished a lot over the 25-plus years that we were friends. His big trip, however, was his annual trip with Flip Pallot in the Everglades. They would fish with permit king Del Brown and legendary Key West guide Steve Huff, so you could just image the conversations of these heavyweights.
I assumed Lefty liked fishing with me because it enabled him to get out of the spotlight to catch his favorite fish: bonefish. Back then, the Keys were loaded with big bonefish, and catching a double-digit bone was common. Who wouldn’t enjoy that?
No Tournaments
Lefty didn’t like tournaments. He never participated in any of them.
He frequently spoke of tournaments, but never in a good way. He thought that they brought out the worst in anglers and created stress in what should be a stress-free environment. There was one tournament that was new and different from the others, the Redbone Tournament. It was more of a celebrity/pseudo-celebrity contest with a very noble cause. The proceeds went to help with the healthcare expenses of a guide whose daughter had cystic fibrosis. As you may know, many Florida fishing guides don’t have health insurance, so this disease was a real financial burden for the family. I told Lefty about it one day when we were fishing and he said no tournaments–but it wasn’t a firm no.
I was friends with Miguel Sosa, a financial advisor and avid angler from Coral Gables, who was also a proponent of the tournament. I convinced Lefty to participate in the Redbone tournament and paired him with Miguel. It changed his mind about tournaments, and we ended up fishing three of them together over the next few years. I believe these were the only the tournaments Lefty ever fished. (I’d like to remind everyone that the Redbone continues today, and proceeds still go to helping families with cystic fibrosis.)
Sidebar: I have no pictures because the only photos of Lefty and me together were taken by D.L. Goddard and they were all out of focus. Goddard was a great fly tier but a lousy photographer.
Reality Check
One day we were driving down to Loggerhead Basin, a well-known tarpon spot in the Lower Keys, with Randi Swisher (from Sage Fly Rods, at the time). Lefty always slept in the back of the truck on the way down. He liked his naps.
It was a little windy, but we got the boat in the water and Lefty was first on the bow. There was a nice tarpon laid up right in front of him. Lefty, surprised by the easy shot before him, got flustered. He got his line tangled up and in the process of getting untangled he created a rat’s nest. We were all laughing as he stepped down to give Randi the shot. Randi stuck the tarpon and I joked with him, saying, “Lefty Kreh has problems casting in the wind–who knew?”
Lefty responded with: “I can cast in a controlled environment like an auditorium all day. I can put a fly through a hula hoop from 100 feet, but with one of them looking at you I’m just like everyone else.” I must have looked disappointed, because he added: “I did that on purpose so I didn’t have to deal with that thing. When he’s done with that, let’s go find some bonefish.”
Lefty was a real person, as flawed and vulnerable to mistakes as everyone else. He would rather fish for bonefish than tarpon any day of the week.
I miss that guy.
Well Done
By Greg Poland (gregpoland@icloud.com) was published in Tail Fly Fishing Magazine in early 2020. To read more great stories from fly fishing legends and greats like this, subscribe to TFFM today. SUBSCRIBE
