Celebrities’ Fishing Guide Dies In Florida Keys

Jimmie Albright, a legendary fishing guide in Islamorada, Fla., who fished with Ted Williams, Zane Grey, Ernest Hemingway and Jimmy Stewart, died two weeks ago. He was 82.

Albright was a pioneer in catching bonefish and tarpon on fly tackle and helped popularize saltwater fly-fishing. The sport has become a major industry for the Keys, especially the Upper Keys where Albright had lived since the end of World War II.

Born in Indiana, he moved to Miami in 1935 and worked as a mate aboard an offshore charter boat, becoming a successful guide and fishing for bluefin tuna with Hemingway in Bimini.

He invented the nail knot, a knot used by fly fishermen, and the Albright special, a hitch used by all types of anglers.

When baseball star Ted Williams got word that some fishermen in Islamorada were fly-fishing for bonefish, he hired Albright and came to the Keys to see for himself. The two men became good friends and fishing companions. Williams had a home in Islamorada for years.

“Some of the old-timers didn’t believe that we were catching fish on fly,” Albright said in a 1995 interview. “They doubted it, even wrote articles that we weren’t doing it.”

But the Keys fishermen proved them wrong and saltwater flyfishing became a popular sport.

Albright’s reputation and his famous clients attracted lots of attention from the press in the 1950s and ‘60s. He said his philosophy of guiding was simple.

“You’ve got to be able to be a teacher, a good conversationalist, and have an interest in the environment,” Albright said. “And knowing the water and the different areas to fish.”

Albright, along with Williams, was recently honored by the sportfishing community at the opening of the new World Wide Sportsman in Islamorada. Though he struggled with cancer in recent years, he caught a sailfish during the Over the Hill Sailfish Tournament last January and won his age category in the tournament.

Wood ducks will have more nesting opportunities along the Little Spokane River this spring, thanks to an Eagle Scout project by David Hinds. The Mead High School senior built 30 wood duck nesting boxes that will be installed along the river between Golden Road and Chattaroy.

The boxes were built with assistance from fellow scouts and parents in the workshop of Audubon Society member Jim Miller, who lives near the river.

Dr. Fred Wood of Burley, Idaho, has been elected chair of the Idaho Fish and Game Commission by a unanimous vote of the other commissioners at a recent meeting. Nancy Hadley Hanson, Sandpoint, will serve as the vice chair.

Wood and Hanson were appointed to the panel by Gov. Phil Batt. Hanson became the first woman to serve on the Idaho Fish and Game Commission with her appointment in May.

, DataTimes