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As most other fishing trips start, catching a Taimen was the goal when I was asked to put a trip to Mongolia together nearly two years ago. This past September the plan came to fruition - myself along with five other anglers headed to the far east to fulfill the goal of catching the world’s largest salmonid.
With my background in trout guiding at home in southeast Idaho, Taimen are fascinating to me. A closely related family member to the fish I see every day, yet vastly different in many aspects. Their diet consists of larger, less frequent meals as they eat primarily larger prey which can consist of anything from other fish, to rodents and even birds. Solely because they eat large prey doesn’t mean they’re an easy target by any means though. Similar to other large predators, they don’t feed all the time. Taimen strongly respond to weather patterns, generally the nastier the better - cloud cover, wind, and precipitation are optimal conditions. All of the above make it easier for them to feed as lower light and turbidity in the water allow them to travel and hunt with more stealth.
Taimen are a very slow growing fish, taking 5-8 years to reach spawning maturity with some fish living as long as 50 years or more. Due to this trait, many Taimen fisheries in the east have been depleted or wiped out entirely due to a number of different factors. Fortunately for some time now, the Mongolian government has implemented numerous protections for these fish. This includes working with outfitters in multiple watersheds across the country to record all fish captured in order to monitor population size and health of the rivers being fished, as well as other regulations such as only allowing fishing during daylight hours and strict catch and release of all Taimen regardless of size.
After roughly three days of cumulative travel to reach our destination, we arrived at our first of eight camps along the river. The plan for the week was to float roughly 100 miles of river over six days, staying at a different camp every night. Over hors-d’oeuvres and a glass of fine wine we got caught up on what the following days looked like on paper.
From what we heard the crew there prior to us had a good week despite high skies and sun for the majority of the duration, a promising sign for us as our upcoming weather was projected to feature more turbulent conditions.
North-Central Mongolia hadn’t seen a lot of rain through the summer season this year, and upon departure from our first camp it was clear to see the river was very low. This revealed a lot of the holding structure it had to offer, which struck me as very similar to some larger rivers I fish at home in low water conditions. A good portion of our fishing was done casting both surface & subsurface presentations into down timber lining the banks, overhanging bushes, boulder gardens, and aquatic structures like seamlines and backeddys. Being a member of the trout species, we found numerous fish in traditional spots such as tailouts, channel confluences, mid-river flats and drop-offs.
More often than not an eat from a Taimen isn’t subtle - they are by no means shy when it comes to attacking prey. A perfect example of this was how my first proper Taimen of size (for this watershed) went down.
It was our second day of fishing, which was off to a bit slower start than our first. The fish appeared to be laying low as we had more sun this day than the day prior. Shortly after lunch we were working down a long, straight bank lined thickly with overhanging bushes. I had the bow of the hot orange driftboat, accompanied by my father John and our brilliant young Mongolian guide Soyol. Similar to the musky fishing I did growing up in the midwest, Taimen fishing can lull you to sleep in the slower periods. I remember daydreaming as I leaned into my Exocett 300gr, tucking a smaller 2/0 popper between a narrow gap in the overhanging branches. Beginning to work the fly there was not a sign of life, however as it was drawn farther from the safety of cover I saw a hard broadside flash of silver and red just behind my fly as it threw water moving back towards the boat. I focused up, got ready and started stripping with more vigor. A longer pause finally broke the fish after seeing its prey dead in the water. Headed away from the bank, mouth wide open in a greyhound sprint through the spot where my fly formerly was, the fish came completely out of the water with immense voraciousness. I knew this was a fully committed eat. A good strip-set yielded tension, and it was on. Soyol got us over to a gravel bar on the opposite bank where after a few long minutes, he was able to bag the fish. A 36” Taimen was the prize, the largest trout I myself had ever caught. After a couple photos and a moment to appreciate the strength and deep red hue on this amazing fish, she swam off healthy. This particular fish is one I’ll never forget, even though I’d best its size significantly just hours later.
Over the course of the week I ran with two primary rods, both out of the new Exocett 88 lineup: the 300gr (9wt) and 350gr (10wt) models. Though these rods were designed primarily with sinking lines in mind, they handle a good streamer-built floating line just as well. The 300 was my choice for this with topwater presentations, while the 350 was the best candidate for launching streamers with heavy sinking lines. After spending a full week fishing these two rods almost exclusively, I can confidently say I’ve found my new favorite streamer rod. Both models comfortably handled anything I could throw at them (or with them). Especially in the scenario that requires a lot of blind casting for hours on end, fishability & all-day comfort with use are very important components in any good fly rod. Smooth, responsive, light, and powerful are all words that come to mind when I think of fishing the 88. Not to mention it has a ton of backbone - I was able to put far more pressure on the blank than I expected when fighting fish. This results in more control during the fight along with a shorter duration, as is always beneficial with the health of any fish in mind.
Line and leader were fairly simple in terms of how we would rig - The two primary lines I fished were a #9 Scientific Anglers Titan Long Floater to pair with the Exocett 300gr and the SA Sonar Sink 25 Cold 350gr paired with the 350. #30 fluoro was my tippet of choice, however heavier or lighter options are good to have in order to adjust rigging in accordance with conditions. The majority of the flies we fished were on the larger side: 1/0 - 4/0 primarily, all on single barbless hooks as per local regulations. My favorite streamer for the week was a triple-articulated deceiver style bucktail fly in olive and white, while smaller poppers in 1/0 and 2/0 sizes seemed to be most productive even with larger fish.
At the end of a trip like this I’m always appreciative of the fish that initially sparked the idea for a wild adventure. All six of us achieved our goal, catching multiple Taimen. In addition, between everyone we managed to check off three other bonus species: Amur Trout, Amur Pike and Lenok.
That being said, more important in my eyes is that I have Taimen to thank for the opportunity to see an incredible corner of the world few other people do.
I’d like to extend a very special thank you to Mongolia River Outfitters for making this a trip of a lifetime for my crew and I - for anyone interested in visiting Mongolia looking for very comfortable remote accommodations, great food, and a hard working crew of camp staff and guides, this is the river trip you’re looking for.
As always, I’m ever appreciative to be part of the phenomenal team we have at T&T. I’m very proud to represent the rods that I love to fish and trust without a doubt in every situation.