Charlie Craven
Charlie Craven tied his first fly from a gifted fly tying kit on his eighth birthday. In the days since (about 37 years worth) he has commercially tied flies for most of the shops in the Denver area, as well as many others throughout the Rocky Mountain west. A longtime South Platte River guide, Craven cut his angling teeth on some of the toughest trout in the world. It was these tough fish that prompted him to develop some of his more popular patterns like the Jujubee Midge, Poison Tung and Charlie Boy Hopper.
Charlie has now been a commercial fly tyer for over thirty years, and in that time has tied flies for nearly every species of gamefish in every location on the planet, though he specializes in trout flies for the Rocky Mountain region. Charlie is a Signature Tyer for Umpqua Feather Merchants and is the originator of other popular patterns such as the Jujubaetis, the Ragin’ Craven, Two Bit Hooker, Dirty Hippy, Screaming Banshee and the Double Gonga.
Craven was the photographer and fly tyer for Barr Flies (Stackpole 2007), was featured in Jay Nichols’ Tying Dry Flies (Stackpole 2009) and has now authored three books, Charlie Craven’s Basic Fly Tying (Headwater Books 2008) and Charlie’s Fly Box (Stackpole Books 2010), and his latest book, Tying Nymphs (Stackpole/Headwater 2016). Craven is also the Fly Tyer’s Bench contributor to Flyfisherman Magazine and has authored the Flyfisherman Foundation 40 Fly Patterns DVD series as well as a saltwater and warm water tying DVD with Flyfisherman.
Charlie is a Colorado native and lives in Palmer Lake, Colorado with his wife, Lisa, two giant dogs and a half dozen kids.
