Will Ryan

Will Ryan covers fishing — trout and bass, most often — for Field & Stream. He teaches writing at Hampshire College in Massachusetts.

Highlights

Education

Ryan attended the University of Vermont, where he received a B.A. and M.Ed. He later completed an M.A. in American history at the University of Massachusetts.

Experience

Ryan grew up hunting and fishing in northern New York, before moving to New England, and doing pretty much the same, minus the dog training. The latter did inspire him to take up teaching (stick with what you know!)—first in Johnson, Vermont and later at Hampshire College in Massachusetts, where he taught writing for more than 40 years before retiring (emeritus) in 2021. Since 2000, he has written a column on the history of hunting and fishing for Gray’s Sporting Journal. From 2010 to 2020, he also wrote a fly-fishing history column for American Angler. His books include Smallmouth Strategies for the Fly Rod (1996); Northern Pike (2000); and Gray’s Sporting Journal’s Noble Birds and Wily Trout (2013). His most recent contribution to a book project involved a series of biographical portraits in America’s Bountiful Waters: 150 Years of Fisheries Conservation and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (2021).

F&S Lightning Round

Favorite Fishing Holes: 1000 Islands; Lake Champlain; West Branch Penobscot, Farmington River, Chappaquiddick Island.Favorite F&S writer: H.G. TapplyFavorite F&S quote: “Fishermen are born honest, but they get over it.” —Ed Zern

Notable Work

• The Beauty Beneath

  American Angler

• A Rising Trout

  American Angler

• Will Ryan Interview

  David LaMere's 'The Wild Huntsman'