This Arizona environmental reporter shares his adventures, meditations on fly fishing

Ron Dungan is something of a fishing addict — and you might recognize his name if you’ve been a longtime KJZZ listener.

Dungan is a longtime environmental reporter in Arizona, including a stint at KJZZ a few years ago.

Now, he’s out with his first book: "The Worst Fishing Dog Ever: And Other Essays."

It’s all about fishing — fly fishing, to be specific. And that’s not the same as your regular, drop a line and wait kind of fishing. They don’t use bait. These are the guys standing in a river in waders, casting out a line over and over again, trying to trick a fish into biting.

The Show spoke with Dungan about the new book, fly fishing and why he thinks it goes a whole lot deeper than line and hook.

Full conversation

RON DUNGAN: People think it’s about all that beautiful casting and stuff, and that’s part of it. But, you know, it goes against the grain in our culture. We’re obsessed with convenience in America. And fly fishing has all these time consuming rituals — from the drive to the stream to getting your gear ready. And that’s kind of the point.

It’s harder to catch a fish with a fly than it is with bait. And you have to think about all these things: the fly you want to use, the cast, what are they eating, what’s hatching, what bugs are hatching. There’s all these little moving parts and you kind of have to figure them out.

LAUREN GILGER: That’s one side of it. But the other side of it, when you’re reading some of these essays that you’ve written, it sounds more like a meditation almost in a way for you and for others.

DUNGAN: Yeah. I mean, once you get all set up and you’re watching your fly or what they call a strike indicator or a bobber — it’s really a bobber. If fish aren’t biting, I don’t know about anybody else, but my mind kind of starts to wander. I suppose that’s where some of these stories come from. My mind goes a lot of strange places. But, yeah, it is very meditative, very relaxing. That’s part of the point, too.

GILGER: Yeah. You write, “People describe fly fishing in many ways: a way of life, a calling, a passion, an adventure, an art, a science, a challenge, an addiction, a culture, a cult, a way to experience nature, a waste of time.” It goes on, right? Like, I wonder, where do you fall in here? How do you describe it?

DUNGAN: All of the above.

GILGER: Yeah.

DUNGAN: Right. Like, some days it is, does feel like a waste of time. But I try not to get too obsessed with numbers or how many fish I catch or don’t catch. It’s just a lot of fun to be out there.

GILGER: Yeah. OK, so tell us some of the kind of adventures you’ve been on, maybe the sticky spots you found yourself in here. Snakes, bears, terrain, weather.

DUNGAN: So I remember this backpacking trip we went on, and this is in the book. I knew there were bears where we were going, and I packed this air horn. And with black bears, usually all you have to do is sort of, they say, stand up, look big, yell at it, “Get out of here.”

GILGER: Yes.

DUNGAN: It usually works. And I had this extra little bit of, you know, noise to make with this air horn. And there are six of us, a couple of dogs, and this bear’s not going to mess with us, but he’s walking down the beach and the river right for us.

GILGER: Man.

DUNGAN: Let’s get this guy moving the other way. I get out the air horn. People are getting the dogs under control. I blast that air horn.

This is a big cinnamon bear, and they tend to be mean, is what I’ve heard, right. The black bears come in all different colors, and cinnamon ones just have a little ornery side to them. This bear turns around, and he runs like a runaway cement truck in the other direction. That’s great.

GILGER: Yeah.

DUNGAN: Of course, I have to add a little bit to it. I mean, “Get out of here!” And I hit that horn a second time. He slams on the brakes, he stops, he walks into the trees, just saunters off. And five or 10 minutes later, we look up on the hill upslope from our camp, and there’s this bear walking. And he’s looking down at us out of the corner of his eye.

GILGER: Oh, no!

DUNGAN: He was a little bit angry. And as I say, it’s an anthropomorphic take on this. But he was mad.

GILGER: You made him too mad. Oh, man. Oh, gosh. OK, so I want to ask you about doing this, like, being a fly fisherman in the desert, right? You’ve lived in Phoenix for so long. And I mean, we have some water here, but is this something that is harder to come by? It seems like an odd pairing.

DUNGAN: Yeah, it is an odd pairing. Maybe not as odd as you might think if you’re not familiar with Arizona. You know, we do have mountains in Arizona. We have 10,000- to 12,000-foot mountains. We have pine forests, oak, and there’s water up there. You know, these high country environments are, you know, the desert floor is right below them, and so they tend to be a little warmer than, say, the mountains in Colorado or Montana.

And I feel that we’re kind of at the leading edge of this, how climate change is going to affect high-elevation environments. And so this last winter was really rough. Streams were really low, lakes were low. I’ve heard of fish kills.

In one stream, the water got so low it froze solid, which killed all the fish. Usually there’s some current under there; fish can hide out during the winter. Another lake was low enough in elevation, and it just got warm. And the water quality went sideways, and the fish died.

GILGER: Wow.

DUNGAN: So it’s a concern.

GILGER: But I mean, you’re talking about water, right? Like, and this is a water sport. We’re losing water at record levels here, as you’re getting at there. What’s it looked like watching climate change affect fly fishing in Arizona?

DUNGAN: It can be really jarring, and I guess maybe because of the nature of my work and what I’ve done in the past, you know, I can remember at some point I was doing stories right here at KJZZ on the Colorado River.

One of the places I like to fish is the San Juan River in New Mexico. At some point I’m standing there, and I realize this water, every drop of this water has been inventoried, right? It’s going to farmers in California. It’s going to swimming pools in Phoenix. And I’m standing here catching fish because the water coming out of this dam on the San Juan River is perfect temperature for trout.

GILGER: Right. I wonder, trying to continue this sport that you really are passionate about that connects you to the outdoors as you’re watching the environmental challenges kind of ramp up, what has that taught you?

DUNGAN: The trout are kind of this canary in the coal mine. If they’re struggling, that is a sign that there are problems in the ecosystem. They’re a cold water fish. The water is getting warmer. The snowpack is getting less, so there’s less water. There’s the threat of wildfire, and that is hard on fish.

GILGER: Let me ask you lastly some uplifting questions. Have you ever caught a really big fish?

DUNGAN: Yeah. I’m starting to get way more interested in bigger fish. I don’t know why it took me so long. Not that I was never interested. I don’t know what the biggest fish I’ve caught is.

I can remember the last fish I caught that was a giant. He was probably 24 inches long and thick as a dictionary. And he had, he looked like two cinder blocks fused together. And he jumps out of the river and throws the hook right away.

You know, some fish really, you’re probably not going to catch. I remember being with a guide and he said, “Yeah, there’s this 28-incher up there I like to get people into, and nobody’s ever landed him.” But I try not to obsess too much about size. Except when I do.

GILGER: Except when you do. OK. Favorite spots, favorite locations, favorite moments you remember that will always stick out for you?

DUNGAN: You know, if you ask me off air, I might tell you a few things. I try not to. This isn’t a guidebook I believe in sharing with your friends, but I think part of the fun of it is finding your own spots.

I will say I love the White Mountains. There’s a lot of water up there. I do like the San Juan River. It’s a famous tailwater. I don’t feel bad about giving that one away. And there are big fish in there.

GILGER: Yeah. All right. Ron Dungan, author of the book “The Worst Fishing Dog Ever and Other Essays.” Also a longtime Arizona environmental reporter, including here at KJZZ. Ron, thanks for coming back in. Appreciate it very much.

DUNGAN: Oh, thanks for having me.

GILGER: And if you’re wondering about that “Worst Fishing Dog Ever” part, you’ll have to check out the book. It comes out in just a few weeks. And Ron will be at the Tucson Festival of Books on March 15 to talk all about it.