Elwood "Buck" Lake Perry (15 July 1915,

Hickory, North Carolina Hickory is a city located primarily in Catawba County, with formal boundaries extending into Burke and Caldwell counties. The city lies in the U.S. state of North Carolina. At the time of the 2020 census, Hickory's population was 43,490. Hickor ...

– 12 August 2005,

Taylorsville, North Carolina Taylorsville is a town in Alexander County, North Carolina, United States. The population was 2,098 at the 2010 census. It is the county seat of Alexander County. Taylorsville is part of the Hickory– Lenoir– Morganton Metropolitan St ...

) was the inventor of the form of

fishing lure A fishing lure is a broad type of artificial angling baits that are replicas designed to mimic real prey animals and attract the attention of predatory fish, using appearances, flashy colors, bright reflections, movements, vibrations and/or loud ...

known as the spoonplug along with being an author. NY Times "Correction: August 30, 2005, Tuesday An obituary on Sunday about Elwood L. Perry, a fisherman and the inventor of the Spoonplug lure, attributed a distinction to him erroneously. It was George W. Perry, not Elwood Perry, who caught a largemouth bass of 22 pounds 4 ounces — a world record — on June 2, 1932." Perry earning a bachelor's degree in physics and mathematics from Lenoir-Rhyne College and then taught and coached at Hickory High School. In

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the World War II by country, vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great power ...

he was a lieutenant-colonel in the

United States Army Transportation Corps The Transportation Corps is a combat service support branch of the U.S. Army. It is responsible for the movement of personnel and material by truck, rail, air, and sea. It is one of three U.S. Army logistics branches, the others being the Qu ...

in the European theatre. After the war he returned to Hickory, N.C. to work in the family business with his father and brother. In 1946 he invented the spoonplug and soon went into business selling the fishing lures manufactured by him and his first wife Marjorie. Business was slow until 1957 when he had a major success in sales promotion. Perry published in 1965 a 31-page guide ''Spoonplugging: for fresh water bass and all game fish'' and in 1973 a 275-page book ''Spoonplugging: your guide to lunker catches''. He also published a nine-volume ''Home Study Series'' in 1981. His bi-monthly newsletter, ''Buck Perry's The National Spoonplugger'', is still published. The fishing lures and the book ''Spoonplugging'' are still sold by the privately held Buck Perry Company in Hickory, N.C. Perry was married to his first wife, Marjorie Bud Setzer Perry, for 39 years; she died in 1978. He was married to his second wife, Geraldine Jeri Stowe Perry, until his death. He is credited as being the father of structure fishing and was later inducted into the National Freshwater Fishing Hall of Fame.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Perry, Elwood L. Angling writers American fishers People from Hickory, North Carolina Lenoir–Rhyne University alumni 1915 births 2005 deaths United States Army personnel of World War II