Interview with Mark Malczynski of Gypsy Rod Works

In the opening post of this blog, I mentioned that from time to time I’d be talking to/interviewing people that build rods, tie flies and catch fish. Today’s post is TDF’s first attempt at just that. I emailed Mark Malczynski of Gypsy Rod Works and asked if he’d be willing to answer a few questions. Thankfully he agreed and this is the result:

TDF: Mark thanks for taking the time to answer a few questions. Let’s start with a little bit of background.

Q: Are you originally from Maine?

Mark: No, I guess you could say I'm originally from Virginia because I lived the 1st four years of my life there but we lived in Connecticut until I was a freshman in High school and then upstate New York until my early twenties. I then moved out West and worked on boats in Alaska until I eventually got married and our first daughter was born. After we had our second daughter we wanted to live closer to my family on the East Coast so we packed everything up and moved to Maine. If you like the outdoors and fishing Maine is a great place to live and raise a family.

TDF: My earliest memories of fishing are with my Grandpa going after bass with minnows dangling below cork bobbers.

Q: What is your earliest memory of fishing?

Mark: My earliest fishing memory is fishing Burke Lake in Fairfax county Virginia when I was 3 with my father...bobber and worm fishing for Crappie.

TDF: I didn’t start fly fishing until I was in my 30’s. But, it quickly became an obsession.
Q: How long have you been fly fishing and why?

Mark: I've been using a fly rod to fish for brook trout and bass for as long as I can remember but as a kid I mostly used the long rod to fish live grasshoppers and pan fish poppers on farm ponds and cool brook trout streams in the NW corner of Connecticut. The Captain of a boat I was working on in Alaska was an avid fly fisherman; his stories of dry fly fishing for trout in Idaho got me interested in fly fishing the traditional way. So to answer your question I've been a serious fly fisherman since my mid-twenties.

TDF: Here in Texas, trout fishing is a fairly rare pursuit. Most of us target warmwater species much of the time.

Q: What is your favorite species to target?

Mark: When we lived in Oregon my passion was fishing for steelhead. We were fortunate enough to live close to a good steelhead river and I could fish for an hour or two before going to work. Here in Maine fly fishing for native brook trout is what I like best; they are great fun to catch on dries. If God made a prettier fish he kept it for himself.

TDF: Okay, now for the meat of this Q & A session.
Q: How long have you been building rods?
Mark: I started building rods for myself shortly after out 1st daughter was born, my wife wasn't hip to me buying expensive fly rods anymore.

Q: When did you decide to start a custom rod business and why?
Mark: I suppose my entry into the rod building business was similar to a lot of other rod builders. I started building rods for myself then friends and family, then friends of friends. After a few years of doing that I figured I would do the right thing and become legal and start paying taxes on the rods I was selling.

TDF: You build stunning fly rods that have an artistic flare. To a lot of us, you are one of the masters of the craft.

Q: I get the sense that you think of your fly rods as fishing tools first. Am I correct?

Mark: Thanks. Making a better fishing rod than what can be bought from the factories is what rod building is all about to me.

TDF: Your attention to detail is amazing and your choice of materials make your builds look as if they were made specifically for each other.

Q: Is there any process you go thru when choosing hardware and guide wrap colors?

Mark: LOL, yeah trial and error. I've re-built/wrapped more rods than I care admit in my quest to find thread colors, grip shapes and hardware that go well with the blank.

Q: Do you have a vision of the completed product before you begin?
Mark: Usually I have a pretty good idea of how I want the rod to look when I'm done. Certain colors will work with a blank and some colors won't. So first I rule out the colors that won't work and then I experiment with color combinations that will work. This is the creative side of rod building that I really enjoy. I like to try something different on every rod I build. Most times the changes are so small that the rod buyer will never notice the difference. But, when I see a pic of a rod built I'll think to myself; “That's the rod I tucked the tag ends under the guide feet so they wouldn't be visible." or some other small change I made to my normal rod building procedure. It keeps the process interesting.

TDF: Of the rods of yours I’ve see, my favorite has to be the build you did on a McFarland blank that was showcased on The Fiberglass Manifesto.

Q: Out of all the rods you’ve built, do you have a favorite?
Mark: The McFarland I built turned out nice, not exactly what I had envisioned but pretty close. It sounds like a copout but my favorite rod is the one I'm working on at the time. I just wrapped a Steffen with Antique Gold silk and it turned out really nice; nicer than I had hoped for. But what's really cool is while wrapping the blank I stumbled upon a couple of tricks that will improve the way the guide wraps look. So next time I wrap a brown blank with silk the guide wraps will look even better.

Q: What is your favorite blank to work with and why? Mark: The Lamiglas "honeys" are my favorite to wrap because so many thread colors look great on that blank. They also make a pretty good dry fly rod in the 3 & 4 wt sizes.

TDF: I’ve got one final question for you. We both love to fish with fiberglass fly rods and we’ve come to know each other thru The Fiberglass Flyrodders message board. Q: What is it about fiberglass that makes it so special? Mark: I think Mark Liu/Yuhina said it best "when you hook a fish on a fiberglass rod the fun has just begun".

Mark thanks again for taking the time to answer these questions. You’ve had an interesting life and build some great rods. I am already thinking of a follow-up to learn more about your time in Alaska. If you’d like to see more of Mark’s amazing work, go to Gypsy Rod Works or click the permanent link I’ve installed on the left of the screen.

D

Cool Drink of Water

I can't remember, have I mentioned it's been hot around here lately? Sunday evening, this little scene unfolded right outside my back door; a testament to the conditions.

This little doe was thirsty.

I thought it was odd that a grown doe didn't have a fawn at her side this time of year. Ah, here comes Junior.

After drinking what the birds drink, they decided to come on up to within 20 feet of the back door to sample what the birds eat.Mom wasn't too impressed, but behind the tree, Junior found something to his liking. After a couple minutes, Mom walked off back into the woods and Junior looked up to find Mom gone.When all else fails; go back from whence you came.

Thirteen years ago, before my wife and I got married, I'd have never given a second thought about keeping water and bird feed out. Thanks Bec for helping me to think in different ways...

D

Phil Baldacchino at Kettle Creek Tackle Shop

I orderd a 8' 4/5wt Riffle Glass blank from Phil at his Kettle Creek Tackle shop last week. It arrived at my doorstep yesterday busted up pretty bad. I was sick. I'd been thinking about building a rod on one of his blanks for nearly a year now and was super stoked that I pulled the trigger and it came in. I'd heard some folks had some bad experiences with Phil and I was worried about how the situation would turn out.

I called Phil this morning and he sounded as sick as I was about the blank being broken. I told him I had taken pictures of it and asked if he wanted them as proof that I wasn't trying to run a scam. He instantly declined and said that a new blank was on its way. Customer service goes a long way with me. I'll be back for sure.

The Snoopy Rod, Spinner Bait, and a Big Bass

A few years ago I was down at the city park lake wasting a few hours swinging a fly rod. The wind was not blowing, the bluegills were biting, and I was in a groove. The whole world had disappeared behind me and I was lost in the rhythm of the cast.

My Nirvana crashed down around me and I was jerked back to reality by the shrill voice that can only come from a young child. All I heard was “DAD, DAD!” The training I had gone through while raising my own children kicked in. I spun around, fearing some sort of catastrophe and looking for the source of the commotion. Relief washed over me when I heard “DAD, LOOK WHAT I CAUGHT!” The moment of dread had been caused by a small boy about 5 years old. He was in his own Nirvana and was racing to share it with his Dad.

As he drew near, I could see the excitement in his blue eyes and joy on his face. In his right hand was a little fishing rod of the Snoopy variety. In his left, was the fishing line; attached to the line was a big ol' spinner bait. And, dangling from the spinner bait was a bass that clearly outmatched the rig but, evidently not the angler. I congratulated him on his catch and bragged about its size. A bit out of breath, he politely thanked me and continued on with his search.

I’ve never put much stock in the belief that you’ve got to have the very best and most costly equipment to catch fish. My view is that if you put what fish want in front of them, no matter what you use to get it there, it’ll get bit. Now, when I hear some puffy chested bird crow about his $600 this or $1200 that, I think of that little boy and what he was able to do with the tools he had. So go ahead, toss that spinner bait with a Snoopy rod if you want to. The fish couldn’t care less.

D

Hoodies in July

July 4th, 2009 - It was a banner day. Not because it was Independence Day although that certainly should qualify it as one…no matter what your political views are. No, that day is permanently burned into my feeble memory for one reason and one reason alone. At 9:00 a.m. it was already 95 degrees. Are you kidding me!? Nothing good can happen when the temperature goes above 80.

Five mornings out of seven, I slip out of the house around daybreak and saunter over to the pickup. Saunter? Hey, I’m a fatkid. Fatkids never walk with a purpose if they can help it, they saunter. Anyway, I fire up the Chevy, roll the window down, and head for work. The window is down, not because I’m too cheap to run the A/C, but because I want to soak up all the fresh air and goodness that can only come from temps below 80 degrees.

This morning was especially nice. The breeze coming in from the intentionally gaping hole in my door was almost cool. It resurrected memories of a wonderful trip with great friends to NE New Mexico and the fishing we did on a mountain lake. Memories like this:

And this:

That trip was special. Not because we caught a lot of fish, which we did. Or, that I’m a purist who thinks fly rods are to be used only to flick dry flies to rising trout. In fact, I’m quite the opposite. If it swims in fresh water, I want to catch it on a fly rod…period. I loved that trip for the simple fact that it was cool enough to need hoodies in July.

D

Semi-muted Thoughts...Geographically Challenged?

What in the heck am I talking about? If you have an over-active mind, as I do, you’ll figure it out pretty quick. If not, please allow me to explain. My brain never shuts up. From the minute I wake up to the minute I go to sleep, I’m constantly thinking about things that may, or may not have anything whatsoever to do with the task at hand. Like just then; as I was typing this first paragraph, I was thinking about a book I read several weeks ago. They, the thoughts, are constantly running around in the back of my mind reminding me of the semi-muted sounds of a radio emanating from another room. That’s how I landed upon the term semi-muted thoughts.

Each day, like most of you, I commute to and from work. It’s not your every day garden variety commute though. It is 65 miles round trip and goes through some of the least inhabited country in Texas. Due to the lack of traffic, my morning and afternoon drives allow me the opportunity to let my restless mind drift. Nine trips out of ten, it drifts to fly fishing. As you can imagine, this part of the world doesn’t lend itself well to the sport for several reasons. The first reason, and only one I will expound upon at this time, is water, or the lack thereof. There is a small park lake not far from my house and a few stock tanks in the county that I frequent. (That's right, I said stock tanks. They’re not ponds down here, they’re stock tanks. One does not have cows or horses in these parts. One has stock. And a tank, if not too leaky, can hold water no matter what matter it’s made of. Therefore, one waters one’s stock at a stock tank.) Other than that, I have at least a hundred miles to drive if I want to fish. With all that being said, I truly hope you can grasp the definition of a geographically challenged fly fisherman.

So now you have it; the gist of this blog. I’ll probably ramble. I know it will be about something related to fly fishing, or gripe about why living here sucks for a fly fisherman. But, from time to time I’ll try to drop something worthy in here about flies, fly rods, & fish; who tied 'em, who built 'em & who caught 'em. Who knows, I might even get good at it and actually have a following…

D