Lefty Kreh is incredible---

[Old #art]

Went to the Virginia Fly Fishing Festival this past weekend. One of the things I wanted to make sure I did was to listen and watch Lefty give a demo and talk on his casting. He was scheduled to do this 4 times during the festival-2 on Sat and 2 on Sun. Even though the last 3 classes were a repeat of the first I went to all 4 of them. The man is absolutely amazing, to say the least. Conditions were horrible on Saturday with 20-25 mile an hour plus winds. His casting is effortless !! Even with the wind he could do things with the line that an "expert" caster couldn't do. Like lay a straight line out 40 feet on the casting pool and have the leader and 5 feet of the line flip to the left between two people--against that wind. He said where the line was going to go before he made the cast. And then he did it a second time, same way so it was no fluke. And then, Sat afternoon after the second class, I had a chance to have a few minutes of one-on-one instruction with him.

In all of my 55 plus years of using a flyrod, I have never had a casting lesson, never watched a video, or tried to use a book. This was a first for me and to do it with someone of that calibre is truly inspiring. Now I have to get out on the water and practice what I learned from him. Wont be any fishing for a while. Just practice, practice practice until I can undo all of my bad habits. Cant wait.

George

[Ron Eagle Elk]

George,

After all those self taught years, watching someone like Lefty lay out a line is just incredible. Congrats on garnering some time with him.

REE

[HCR]

If Lefty's not the best, he's sure got everyone else beat for 2nd.

[James Smith]

I still remember vividly the first time I met Lefty and watched him cast. He took the top section of a four piece rod and laid out the full length of fly line; simply amazing. It's always fun to watch him entise some young buck to come up in front of the croud and show his stuff. There's always one willing to step up to the challenge and then Lefty will say something like, "Have you ever looked at your backcast? When the guy answers no, Lefty will say "Man I don't blame you, it's hard to watch?" It's all done in fun and he always takes the time to talk with folks and willingly shares his knowledge. Lefty's a real character and wonderful ambassador for fly fishing.

Jim Smith

[pillcaster]

I saw him on Sunday, very entertaining. He asked for volunteers to come forward and a man pushed his son forward and lefty said "Dad's too chickenshit". A lady came up and he had her cast and he said "You didnt listen to a damn word I said". You would have enjoyed Ed Jaworowski, also, cast 50 ft with 2 fingers and could hook or "slice" the line either way he wanted, plus could do it by degrees, ie a draw or a hook. I took his class Sunday AM and he spent 3 hours with the 4 of us, very informative.

[Thunderthumbs]

I'm hoping to get Lefty on a podcast!

TT.

[Host Ray]

Let me get this straight. 20-25mph crosswind, 40' straight line cast, and the fly & leader go 5' vertically into the wind???? I'm not buying it.

[wayneb]

I feel priveledged to live in the Washington DC area and see Lefty do his thing at so many shows here. I've been "volunteered" numerous times for Lefty's demos and always came away better than I started. At Tifest this year he was showing the crowd quicker ways to tie knots, I was watching intently how others progressed and the next thing you know Lefty looks at me and says "ok, it's your turn." He then proceeded to work with me directly on knot tying and I learned a lot.

Lefty is a wealth of knowledge and really enjoys sharing it!

The first time you see him cast a line with just the rod tip or even better just his arm, is a very humbling experience.
If I learn to be half the flycaster Lefty is before I die, I'll consider myself pretty darn good.

George/Old #art: I know exactly how you feel, since I've experienced Lefty's hands on approach several times.

Wayne

[Old #art]

Let me get this straight. 20-25mph crosswind, 40' straight line cast, and the fly & leader go 5' vertically into the wind???? I'm not buying it.

Didn't go vertical. The last 5 feet of the line and the leader sort of flipped horizontally to the left and dropped between the two guys. This is hard for me to explain. Lefty does a little "flick" or "jerk" at the end of each casting stroke, forward or back cast, with his rod hand that imparts a lot of action to the fly line, whether it be line speed, direction, or whatever he does to make the line do what he does to it. I could feel it when he was holding my hand and the rod and showing me how his cast should be made. With the line/ leader "flip" to the left-- at the same time the rod stopped he made a very slight "flick" up and to the left that sent a little wave down the line and that was what turned the end of the line to the left as the line layed down.

Host Ray, you may not be buying it but I felt it and saw it fall into place. LOL And again, that was after he said what he was going to do.

George

[HCR]

Sort of like going to a faith healing, it seems.