Bill Levy, Ted Williams, and the Florida Keys

Alan Farago, a dedicated conservationist and long-time south Florida angler, writes about Bill Levy — the original “permit fanatic” and one of the few anglers who could hold his own with Ted Williams when it came to stubbornness of opinion. “‘That Ted Williams is the nastiest man in the world,’ [Levy’s wife] Esther said to me. ‘He’s a great fisherman,’ I replied, baiting the hook. ‘Oh he fishes with a guide,’ she said, waving off the Splendid Splinter. ‘Bill Levy,’ she informed me, ‘is better fisherman than Ted Williams with his little pinkie,’ she said, holding up her finger.” In Counterpunch.
For the record, Levy occasionally kept company with guides too. The first time I met him, Bus Bergman was toting Levy’vs canoe out to the Marquesas on the front of his Hewes Bonefisher. I followed them out there just to see Bill fish for tailing permit in his unlikely craft.