Celebrating Lefty
Efforts are underway to place Lefty Statue in his
Hometown of Frederick, MD and we need your help.
The Friends of Lefty Kreh, (FOLK), a nonprofit 501(c) chartered with Fly Fishers International, has launched an effort to honor the life of Bernard 'Lefty' Kreh. The initiative is to place a life-sized bronze statue of Lefty in action, with fly rod in hand, casting in Culler Lake located in peaceful Baker Park, a Frederick, Maryland city park just down the street from Lefty's childhood home.
Lefty, (1925-2018), was a good friend to fly fishermen everywhere, from kings and queens to the average guy on the street. Having never gone beyond eighth grade in school, his accomplishments were many – he authored over 30 books, guided presidents, founded conservation organizations, was an accomplished photographer, fly tier, instructor, and writer; a television personality, and much more. His influence on the fly fishing industry in his lifetime are unparalleled.
To learn more about the project and how you can help the effort to honor Lefty's memory and bring more people into the sport, visit www.friendsofleftykreh.com or contact them directly at friendsofleftykreh@gmail.com. And if you are a member of a local T.U. Chapter, conservation organization, or fishing club, please encourage them to make a donation in memory of Lefty.
Fall Fishing
In lots of ways it's discouraging to think about fall fishing. I find myself thinking about what is next instead of enjoying what is now. I think about shoveling snow, scraping windshields, pulling on winter boots and having cold hands until about Memorial Day. But then I remind myself to be thankful for today and let tomorrow take care of itself, I start to appreciate the warm fall days with leaves turning color, chilly mornings, a warm afternoon, geese flying south, pumpkins, corn fields that were green all summer and are now brown, wooly bear caterpillars and so on. Most of all I appreciate warm sunny afternoons on the stream when we can get them, knowing that each one might be the last one until next year.
Early last summer our blog featured balance nymphs. Little did I know then that the northeast was headed into a pretty bad drought and fishing would stop for awhile until the rains came. But the rains did come and now with fall and cold mornings it is a good time to try something new. If you haven't tried a balance nymph, it's an interesting new fly to fish and a perfect time to try it is when the water is cold and the fish are not actively chasing their food. As the water temperatures drop the fish will be more lethargic and will wait for the food to come to them. From now until the water warms in the spring we'll fish streamers slow along the bottom hoping our fly drifts to a fish that only has to make a slight effort to get it.
We want to make it easy for you to try a balance nymph, so here's a look back at our spring blog with a description on why you might want to use this fly and if you comment in the Comments section (you need to read this from a browser to access the Comments section) we'll send you a free balance nymph to try this fall. Just comment “Yes, I want to try a balance nymph.” and we'll send you a free fly.
End the Threat
I hesitate to even mention Pebble Mine in the title because we are all so sick of hearing about it. What has it been – 10 years of fighting for protection of our beloved Bristol Bay?? We're sick of it, don't want to read about it, don't want to discuss it, disgusted, we just want it to go away. But isn't that exactly what the foreign mining companies and our money-bought politicians want from us?
People need places like Bristol Bay. If you saw Patagonia's movie Artifishal, you know how much we need them. We need them for the wild fish, wild animals, wild places that are so hard to find. But, you've heard all this before. Just know that the threat to Bristol Bay is still very much alive and the Bristol Bay Defense Fund is doing great things, but the fight is not over. Please continue to support the Fund. Don't let them take what little we have left!
Thanks for following our blog. Don't forget to request your free balance nymph! We'll see you next week.