One evening in 1947, a young Bernard “Lefty” Kreh took notice of a ticket clerk at Frederick, Maryland’s Tivoli Theatre. A Frederick native, Kreh had recently returned from the war in Europe, where he fought in the Battle of the Bulge. Then, while on duty at nearby Fort Detrick, noted for its research into biological weapons, he was accidentally poisoned with anthrax. Kreh was lucky to be alive; he knew that. Perhaps that was on his mind as he left the theater and asked the ticket taker for her name and if she would allow him to walk her home later that night. Six months later, Kreh and Evelyn Mask married just as he was embarking on what would become an astonishing career as a celebrity angler, trick sharpshooter, television host, writer, and incomparable ambassador for fishing. Kreh likely taught more people to fly fish than anyone else in history.

On March 27, the forty-four-minute documentary Lefty: The Greatest of All Time will premiere in his beloved hometown, at that same theater where he met his wife, which now operates as the Weinberg Center for the Arts. Narrated by Flip Pallot, a close friend of Kreh’s for more than fifty years, the film is anchored in never-before-seen interviews conducted by cinematographer Jay Nichols in the months before Kreh’s passing in 2018. Directed and created by Nichols, of Headwater Media Group, and produced by Fly Fisherman magazine, the documentary also includes a host of insights from fishing royalty, from Ed Jaworowski to Johnny Morris to Blane Chocklett. Archival footage captures Kreh during his travels around the world.

“So many new people are coming into this sport who were never exposed to Lefty Kreh,” says Fly Fisherman editor and publisher Ross Purnell, another longtime close friend of Kreh’s. “My hope is that, through watching this film, they will understand his knowledge and wisdom and be inspired to pick up his old books that are every bit as applicable today as when they were published.”

Truth be told, Kreh’s influence on fly fishing was so impactful for so long that it’s likely even the youngest fly anglers could trace their involvement in the sport back to him. A parent or grandparent who taught them to cast may well have learned from Kreh’s writings and videos. The legend’s adventures were broadcast on numerous television shows, inspiring several generations of fishing guides. “There aren’t six degrees of separation between Lefty and today’s anglers,” Purnell figures. “It’s more like three degrees, if that. But the film focuses on his character and personality and doesn’t stray into tips and tackle advice. All the how-to stuff he wrote about for forty years is still out there, but the film is about his historical importance and his character.”

An outdoors columnist for The Baltimore Sun for nearly two decades, Kreh returned to his hometown of Frederick in the last years of his life. In October 2023, a life-size bronze sculpture of him was dedicated at Frederick’s Culler Lake. “All his achievements and accolades, and his voice that sounded a little gruff, made him bigger than life,” says Heather Templeton, who often traveled with Kreh as a fly fishing and casting expert and helped lead the effort to commission and place the sculpture. “He knew that, so he went out of his way to be very disarming and make you feel at ease. He just melted people because he was so Everyman.”

For Purnell, that approachability presented a challenge for filmmaking; Kreh cared more about lifting up others than garnering the spotlight. “Lefty was so reluctant to talk about himself,” he says. “In that respect, he was a very private man. He was always telling me about other people and extolling the virtues of others. You had to prod him to tell his own story, so this film turns the tables a bit with all of his friends telling their own stories of Lefty Kreh.”

Kreh (right) with his close friend Flip Pallot, narrator of the new documentary.

Tickets for the premiere in Frederick are available through the Weinberg Center for the Arts. The documentary is then slated for a television premiere on Outdoor Channel on April 19, and World Fishing Network on April 24. Another screening is scheduled for April 25 as part of Lefty Kreh’s Tie Fest in Vero Beach, Florida.