ABOUT YOUR GUIDE


​Casey Cravens has explored New Zealand's rivers and lakes, across both the South and North Islands, for 30 years.  He specialises in the lower South Island: Dunedin, Gore, Queenstown, Te Anau and Wanaka and Westland trips from Jackson Bay to Haast, Whataroa, Karamea and Nelson:  the Mataura River, Otago and Southland streams, and South Island wilderness rivers in Fiordland, Mount Aspiring and Kahurangi national parks, with spring creeks sprinkled in between. 

His fishing obsession dates back to a childhood in a hot dry land far, far away. Like a remarkable number of sight-fishing guides, he cut his teeth on spring creeks of Central Texas' Balcones Escarpment.  For over 30 years he's fly fished for a wide range of species--from black, smallmouth and Guadalupe bass and redfish to Rocky Mountain cutthroat, to Quebec's sea-run brook trout and Atlantic salmon.  A while back he spent six months in Chile and Argentina exploring Patagonia's far-flung fisheries and improving his Spanish.  His obsession is the wiliest of gamefish, the brown trout, the most genetically diverse known vertebrate.  

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.  He enjoys reviewing gear, writing, photography and giving talks on conservation, fly -fishing traditions, techniques and destinations.

Active in environmental issues, Casey is currently president of the New Zealand Federation of Freshwater Anglers, our local equivalent of Trout Unlimited or the UK's Angling Trust.

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.

He's also been on a few podcasts.  Here's one with some funny Aussies:  Ep 16 S 01 of The Anglers.  https://tinyurl.com/2atpfst4.  Free membership of the Audible or The Listnr platforms takes you past the intro. 

Contacts: +6427-346-6903 and [email protected]

"In Wildness is the preservation of the world."--Henry David Thoreau, "Walking"
Your New Zealand fly-fishing guide Casey Cravens