ABOUT YOUR GUIDE
Casey Cravens has explored New Zealand's rivers and lakes, across both the North and South Islands, for 26 years. He specialises in the lower South Island: Dunedin, Gore, Queenstown and Wanaka and the West Coast--the Mataura River, Otago and Southland streams, and the wilderness rivers of New Zealand's South Island in Fiordland, Mount Aspiring and wild West Coast. His fishing obsession dates back to a childhood in a hot dry land far, far away. For over 30 years he's fly fished for a wide range of species--from Texas black bass and redfish to Rocky Mountain cutthroats, to Quebec's sea-run brook trout and Atlantic salmon. A few years back he spent six months in Chile and Argentina exploring the far-flung fisheries of Patagonia and improving his Spanish.
Casey enjoys backpacking the South Island high country with camera and fly rod, sight fishing with a dry fly, and tying new patterns for hatch-driven rivers like the Mataura.
A member of the New Zealand Professional Fishing Guides' Association, Casey is a brand ambassador for Thomas and Thomas Rods and on the pro staff of Einarsson Fly Reels. He enjoys reviewing gear, writing, photography and giving talks on conservation, fly fishing traditions, techniques and destinations.
Casey recently participated in Montana State University's global oral history project on freshwater angling, funded by the local philanthropists at the Willow Springs Foundation.
For his interview, click here.
"In Wildness is the preservation of the world."--Henry David Thoreau, "Walking"
Your New Zealand fly fishing guide Casey Cravens