Fishing with a Worm reveals the practical and poetic side of everyday angling. This collection blends thoughtful reflections with hands-on craft, showing how a simple worm can unlock patient skill, steady odds, and real rewards on a brook or meadow stream. Bliss Perry argues that worm-fishing is not a fallback, but a valid path in the sport. The text compares the honest, humble tackle to more glamorous methods, exploring the mindset required to enjoy fishing as a craft, not just a chase for big catches. It invites readers to weigh tactics, patience, and humor while pursuing trout and other fish, with practical notes tucked into thoughtful observations. Discover why worm-fishing can be a reliable, satisfying method even when fly-fishing fails. Explore the balance between skill, patience, and practicality in angling decisions. Learn about how fishermen approach baiting, gear choices, and the role of compromise in the day’s catch. Enjoy reflective passages on persistence, modest success, and the joys of the sport. Ideal for readers who appreciate thoughtful essays on fishing, nature, and the philosophy of sport.
Author
Perry was born in Williamstown, Massachusetts and was educated at Williams College, Williamstown, as well as the universities of Berlin and Strasbourg. Perry taught at Williams from 1886 until 1893. He then taught at Princeton University, where he became acquainted with future US president Woodrow Wilson, Dean Andrew West, and former US President Grover Cleveland, about whom he wrote entertainingly in his autobiographical work, And Gladly Teach. Perry taught at Harvard University between 1907 and 1930 and was the Harvard lecturer at the University of Paris from 1909 to 1910. From 1899 to 1909 he was the editor of The Atlantic Monthly. Perry was awarded the Legion of Honour by the French. He edited the works of Edmund Burke, Sir Walter Scott, and Ralph Waldo Emerson. From 1905 until 1909 he was general editor of the Cambridge edition of the major American poets. He wrote extensively, including monographs on Walt Whitman, John Greenleaf Whittier, Thomas Carlyle and Emerson. He was also a prolific writer of novels, short fiction, essays, studies in poetry, and an autobiography. Perry is famed in certain Vermont lore for "establishing" the "summer colony" of Greensboro, Vermont. He enjoyed its tranquil setting and its distance from the cares of the busy world of the Atlantic Monthly and his professorships. Fly fishing was one of his key hobbies, which led to the publication of "Fishing With a Worm." Perry was the brother of Dr. Lewis Perry, headmaster of Phillips Exeter Academy from 1914 to 1946. He died in Exeter, New Hampshire in 1954. +++++++++++++++++++++ Professor of English at Williams College, 1886-93; Princeton University, 1893-1900; Harvard University, 1907-1930. Editor, The Atlantic Monthly, 1899-1909.
