Fly Fisherman's Loop to Loop Podcast, Season 1, Episode 21: Mark Susinno

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Mark Susinno is a lifelong and classically trained fine artist who resides in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania. Susinno is one of the most recognizable painters of gamefish in North America, celebrated for his ability to render underwater worlds with scientific accuracy and emotional punch. Born in Washington, D.C. and trained at Pratt Institute, his paintings capture the tension, movement, and predatory instinct of fish. He’s equally adept at depicting the angler’s perspective, creating resonating scenes that feel lived‑in.

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Truncated transcript: 

00:00:00.600 --> 00:00:35.310: Another thing that I really like about your style or your topics, it's like a lot of old, old classic sporting paintings, or like a guy fighting a tarpon with a tarpon jumping out of the water or, or something like that. Right? I you capture the moment before it all happens, like the anticipation. There's so much anticipation and it's almost like you're getting a peak before anything happens. You haven't like interacted yet. Is that something you're going for or thought about?

00:00:35.310 --> 00:01:21.390: Yeah. Yeah. That, and I, I've always likened it to the, the, I think one of the things that we as fishermen really enjoy and kind of live for is we're making a cast to a fish. Either a fish we can see, or a fish we can't see. But the entire time we're retrieving the fly, we're anticipating the, the next second that fish is going to eat, or the next second or so. That's kind of the driving force between, behind what we like as fishermen.

00:01:21.390 --> 00:01:57.810: Loop to Loop is sponsored by Patagonia, high performing outerwear made responsibly for our planet. G Loomis, American-made fly rods manufactured in Woodland, Washington. Abel Reels proudly designed, machined, anodized, and assembled in the USA. Crafted for Chaos. Renzetti, the Vise of Legends. Airflo, next-gen PVC-free fly lines with new tech, new formulas, and the same obsession.

00:01:57.810 --> 00:02:26.910: Hi, I am Ross Purnell, editor and publisher of Fly Fisherman magazine. Welcome to Loop to Loop, where we make deeper connections with the people behind the magazine. Our guest today is Mark Susinno. He is a world-famous artist and I have been a fan of his trout paintings for decades. Super big fan. So I'm, I'm really excited to have you in the studio today, mark. Thanks for coming.

00:02:26.910 --> 00:02:50.160: Well, thank you Ross. Thanks for having me. And the other amazing part is that so many people travel from a long distance and you're like right around the corner from our studio, basically… Five minutes away. Yes. I've always found it astounding that an amazing artist like yourself lives in our little town of Harrisburg. How did you come to live in Harrisburg?

00:02:52.350 --> 00:03:19.900: Well, almost 30 years ago, I used to, I lived in Maryland and I would trailer my boat three hours up to fish in Susquehanna. And I eventually got tired of doing it that way, so I figured it'd be a lot easier if I lived here. Wow. So it was here it was a smallmouth bass. Exactly. Yeah. Oh, that is so cool. Where did, where'd you fish back in the day? Mostly down in the Middletown area or Harrisburg area?

00:03:19.900 --> 00:03:44.110: No, I mostly fished, I eventually started fishing up near Selinsgrove, Port Trevorton area. Okay. I, I fish it a lot, but I've never been that far up. Actually. Usually when I drive that far I go up the Juniata. Okay, right. Yeah. 30 years ago there was almost nobody fishing there…