With Lefty Kreh the States have lost their most prominent fly caster of the last century. He died on March 14 at the age of 93. Lefty was a true legend who even saw one of his fly patterns honoured with a stamp. Lefty wrote a big bunch of books be it on fly casting, fly fishing or fly tying (even on spinning) and he produced a series of DVDs and films. Every single fly fishing enthusiast has probably at least one of his books on his bookshelf. He was also the head of the design team of Temple Fork Outfitters.

I was in contact with Lefty regularly since 1995 and we met several times at shows in The States. We are both born on Feb 26 and besides the exactly 40 years of age between us the love for developing fly casting and fly fishing around the globe was our common base. We shared many interesting hours of talking and he told me a lot about his ideas especially in regard of the the development of saltwater fly fishing. He was a pioneer in this field and Lefty`s Deceiver is one of the best known streamer patterns around the world. Lefty was a very funny person who loved to laugh and play jokes. And he liked to talk ...

Even at the age of 90+ Lefty was more busy than many people who were not even half of his age. He came out with a series of new DVDs on fly casting which he did with Ed Jaworowski. He sent me a copy of The Complete Cast and I am happy that he also shared some of my teaching methods and casts in this film. We talked a lot on phone about it as he was not that much of a fan of the new media tools. The Complete Cast was his last big project and it was an important one for him as it serves as his fly casting legacy. Lefts was not a typical American fly caster. His style was different. He used a way of oval casting with a long stroke and a low back cast that served his needs of fighting the winds on the boat.

Lefty, thanks for all. Tight lines for heaven's largest trout!

Günter