Flylords: How long have you been fly fishing for?
Rolf: I think it’s around 13 years now…
Flylords: When did you start carrying a camera with you? What was the first movie you made?
Rolf: I guess I started with that right away, some cheap DV-cam we had to film snowboarding during the winters. My interest in filming and fly fishing has sort of evolved together. The first movie I made was maybe something involving the Pike in Lake Mälaren, where I grew up.
Flylords: All time favorite fish to catch on a fly rod? Why?
Rolf: It’s a boring answer, but of course, it’s the brown trout. Where I grew up (close to Stockholm, Sweden) there were no trout and no clear rivers, just farmland and pike. The brown trout became like a mythological creature, something I dreamt of but would never be able to see. But then the summer came, and when my brother got his driving license and we drove north, into the mountains. That summer was magical, I caught a huge 10-15 cm trout on a dry fly. I felt like I was in my own dreams. I guess I’m just chasing that first trout, everything needs to be perfect in order to catch it, a calm and steady current, a proper mayfly hatch and slowly rises. the encounters with that fish happen more and more rarely.
Flylords: I have been following your video work since the beginning, you definitely have one of the most creative minds in the industry. Where does this creativity come from and how have you grown as a videographer since you started?
Rolf: Thank you. Hard question, I don’t know, I just do things. I’m hopefully growing as a filmmaker, though I lack the professionalism that everybody else seems to have. I do things whenever it feels right, but mostly I just dream about being able to do things I can’t.
Flylords: What is your favorite movie?
Rolf: Are you a relative of Steve Zissou? In that case, it’s Life Aquatic.
Flylords: Who is your favorite musical artist?
Rolf: One choice? It can get so wrong when you have to choose only one favorite. Just look at your presidential election… But well, it has to be Tallest Man On Earth.
Flylords: If you could recommend one book to read?
Rolf: The one I’m reading now is After Nature by Jedediah Purdy, I recommend that, especially if you have a broader English vocabulary than me, and most people do.
Flylords: Do you have any role models in the fly fishing industry?
Rolf: My friend Peter Christensen, Håvard Stubö and the Felt Soul Media guys!
Flylords: If you were stranded on an island and had one fly and one rod, what would you choose?
Rolf: A class 5 rod and a Klinkhammer hook 16. You might think it’s a stupid choice for a deserted island surrounded by a salty ocean. But I would die with class…
Flylords: I know you recently had a fire in your house. First off I am so sorry to hear about that. I am glad to see you starting to get back into your videos, how have you been able to recover from such a setback?
Rolf: I’m so absent-minded that it’s hard keeping one thing in focus for a long time, guess that goes for grief also. But it was hard, not the least economically.
Flylords: What does Rolf Nylinder have planned for 2017?
Rolf: I’ll hopefully make some videos that I just put on my homepage rolfnylinder.com. I’m almost done with a film from Kamchatka that I did together with Peter, it’s gonna run on the fly fishing film tour… I’m very happy people actually watch the things I do, that means a lot to me. I’ll probably keep doing some random movies the coming year, that’s what I do.
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