The Worst Fishing Dog Ever: And Other Essays

A heartfelt look at the state of modern fly-fishing and the challenges fishers will face in the coming decades.

Ron Dungan, like many fly-fishers, can be obsessive. Although decades of fishing trips have led him to encounter snakes, bears, and treacherous terrain, his main focus is always the fish--how to find them, how to outsmart them, and how to hook them.

In twenty-seven essays, Dungan takes us on a journey down bad roads and backcountry streams. Each tells a tale about fishing but also about hunting dogs, death, public-land policy, the trap of materialism, and accelerating environmental damage. This last becomes a new obsession. Fly-fishing in the arid Southwest has always been precarious, but how has fly-fishing changed, and what further impacts will climate change and resource extraction have? With his dog curled at his feet, Dungan attempts to unravel the tangled line of these hard questions.

Author: Ron Dungan
Publisher: Unm Press
Published: 03/17/2026
Pages: 176
Binding Type: Paperback
Weight: 0.55lbs
Size: 8.44h x 5.52w x 0.48d
ISBN13: 9780826369208
ISBN10: 0826369200
BISAC Categories:
- Biography & Autobiography | Memoirs
- Sports & Recreation | Fishing
- Literary Collections | Essays

About the Author
Ron Dungan was a travel and outdoors writer for the Arizona Republic for many years, where he contributed to a Pulitzer Prizewinning story on the history of the border. More recently, as a reporter for public radio affiliate KJZZ, he had pieces on NPR and Here and Now. His work has appeared in the New York Times, Gray's Sporting Journal, USA Today, Sierra, the Minneapolis Star Tribune, Southwest Fly Fishing, and the Miami Herald, among others.