Mongolia - Titanic Trout (this article first appeared in some form in Modern Fishing Magazine)

Hucho Hucho Taimen - Worth a trip to the ends of the world!

I can’t quite tell if I was asleep or knocked unconscious from the pummelling I’d taken in the back of the Russian 4WD combi van. Either way it was rest, much needed rest.
This was the start or our return home from Mongolia. A journey that would take four days and would be as grueling as it was long. We’d started the day packing our gear in sub zero temperatures before a three hour horse ride to get to the 4WDs. We were now 14 hours into what should have been a ten hour trip. There was still a charter plane to catch back to the country’s capital Ulaanbaatar; then back to back flights to Beijing, Shanghai, Sydney and then finally Melbourne.

The business end.

Yes I realize this must sound crazy, but you’re into fishing right? You have the itch, the same itch that has seen me travel all over this country and to a few exotic locales around the world in search of a hit. Sometimes the itch is easy to scratch, mullet in the local creek, trout in a nearby stream. Other times it’s not so easy and the itch is seated deeper beneath the skin and much harder to scratch.

The blame (or should that be thanks) for the battering we were now taking sits squarely on the shoulders of my good mate Patrick Brenan. He too has the itch, arguably a little more than most. It was the stories from his first venture to Mongolia in search of the world’s largest salmonid the taimen that had six of us squashed into this vehicle getting smashed by every little bump in the road (of course the term road is used very loosely indeed). When you hear stories of trout that grow to over a meter in length you think you’re being fed lies, surely trout can’t get that big. But they can…….and do. It’s that kind of information that can see an itch build into something that will take considerable time, money, effort and travel to scratch properly.

Hucho Hucho Taimen – The Largest Salmonid in the World
Taimen are part of the Salmonid Family, the same family tree that gives us the brown and rainbow trout so familiar to freshwater anglers across the southern part of our country. They grow big, very big. In his wonderful book “Trout Of The World” James Prosek states “….Hucho hucho taimen have been recorded in excess of two hundred pounds and up to fifty-five years of age.” The IGFA have the all tackle world record for taimen listed at 41.95kg. It's those statements that had me reaching for my passport in a flash.

The first of many for the trip.

They Eat What??
When first contemplating this trip I was curious to hear what a freshwater fish of these proportions would live on. It hardly seems viable that they would be seen rising to a drifting mayfly or taking insects off the river bed as our local browns and rainbows do. That said I was still surprised to hear that they feed largely on grayling and chipmonks (a small rodent that was familiar to me only through cartoons). I shouldn’t have been surprised at all; a one kilo grayling to a 25 kilo taimen would be akin to a small galaxid to a mountain river rainbow in the Victorian highlands. And while their appetite for chipmonks seemed a little strange it only took a reminder of the number of large brown trout that are found with mice in their stomachs to make it seem normal.

Hairy little bugger.........the chipmonk that is.

Yes they would eat a well presented large fly and yes they would eat lures but the most successful way of catching the largest of these fish was to drift live grayling through likely looking water. Pat likened this to fishing for mulloway. Live baits were the go, the fish could be very wary feeders and we might go days without seeing or catching one. In fact it was possible that some of us would come home without tasting victory.

Lennock and Grayling

Lennock

Along with the taimen we would also be chasing two other species; lennock and grayling. The lennock looked like a rainbow trout that hadn’t lost its parr marks but with a distinctly downturned and somewhat rubbery mouth. Think of the lips of a bonefish stuck to the body of an overgrown juvenile rainbow trout. Pat and his mates had taken them to 5 kilos on their previous trip and these fish could be taken on the same tackle we used back home for trout.

Grayling

The grayling were to be found in big numbers and were large for the species. Ranging in size from a quarter to close to one and a half kilos this was a world class fishery that would be the envy of many countries in the northern hemisphere. The fact that they along with the lennock could be readily caught on fly and small lures made them appealing right from the start.

The action begins
Upon landing our somewhat ancient Russian helicopter close to our camp we were quickly unloaded, rigged up and walking the river bank. We were like kids on a school excursion jostling each other to get to the prime spots, itching to be the first to taste success. It only took seconds for the first grayling to be caught and the adventure had begun.

The Siskid River

While Pat had warned us that taimen wouldn’t be in big numbers it was only my second or third cast that saw my small bladed spinner snaffled on a current line by a fish of 3.5 kilos. I was expecting to see a grayling playfully clear the water but Pat excitedly called it for a taimen; he’d apparently seen the reddish orange tail and knew what he was looking at. The fish slugged it out in the fast water for a moment before being brought to hand. It was a magic moment and I was stoked to get that first fish out of the way nice and early. In a piece of dumb luck I went on to catch another taimen from amongst the others less than half an hour later……a great start indeed but would my luck hold out.

While both these fish were great fun on the light gear it was the giants we were after; those fish in excess of a meter in length. The itch had been scratched but it certainly hadn’t gone away. I’d like to be able to say that the fishing for me continued along like that for the rest of the thirteen day trip but it would take almost six days of solid fishing before I caught my next taimen. There were fleeting missed opportunities. A huge rock just within casting range that saw Sean and Craig both catch fish in excess of a meter and yours truly roll the hook out of one in the same size bracket. Along with that bit of heartbreak there were plenty of bumps and knocks on the bait that could just as easily been a rock or log as a taimen. Each night back at camp we went through the days fishing and I was getting more and more envious of the giants the team were catching. It seemed that everyone had cracked the meter mark except me. Not only that but some were well over 1.2 meters and pushing 25kg.
It was well past the half way point that I finally cracked the golden marker with a fish of 1.05 meters. The fish had come out from behind a large mid-stream boulder and followed two other hook-ups. With the monkey off my back I followed that fish up with one of 1.25 meters a few days later. This fish was sitting near the mouth of a small feeder stream and had a few friends. From this one spot we landed three nice fish and saw several roll on the surface, their orange tails catching the afternoon sun. The fishing was so good we found ourselves running back to camp through snow at dusk. We later found out that a search party had been sent for us as we were late returning to camp.

Modern transport Mongolia style.

Travel
I’d love to be able to tell you that getting to and fishing the Siskid river is a piece of cake but in reality it took a lot of planning (thanks Pat) and a very diverse range of transport for both the anglers and our gear. Through the course of the trip we employed the services of several planes, a helicopter, a few cars, oxes, horses, rafts, barges and our own two feet. Most of it was fairly plain sailing but with every long range trip there were some hiccups along the way. Sitting in a Beijing airport departure lounge while they pushed our flight back 30 minutes at a time for 12 hours was certainly one low point as was the 17 hours sandwiched into the back of a 4WD traversing some of the scariest tracks I’ve ever been on. This was done mostly in the dark with a driver not willing to pull over and rest even though he was falling asleep at the wheel. While there is nothing too physical about the travel and just about anyone with an average level of fitness would be fine it is safe to say that it takes a seasoned traveller with a “roll with the punches” kind of attitude to get through the journey itself.

The view towards the Russian boarder.

Weather
Our trip had been planned to coincide with the start of winter; a time when the big taimen start to congregate in preparation for spawning. They also know that winter sees a lack of available food so they feed up in readiness for this.

In Australia we have road trains.......here they have camel trains

Winter, even the very start of winter in this part of the world is very cold. Overnight temperatures would often hit -15 with a few nights making it to -20. Daytime temps rose to the low teens which meant things were quite pleasant. That said we still had days with bright sunshine where line would be icing up in the guides at mid day. This was no place for trying to be the tough guy. If things turned nasty and you put a hole in the raft or fell in the water even for an instant, got stuck in a storm or worse still stuck out over night you could die.

The one that made the whole trip worthwhile.

Clothing.
While the weather was colder than I have ever experienced the general lack of moisture in the air made it feel warmer than it was. I’ve certainly felt colder in the Snowy Mountains of NSW or the Central Highlands of Tasmania. Good quality warm weather clothing was still essential and a layering approach made life a lot more comfortable. As the day warmed up layers could be shed to keep the body at an ideal temperature. The standard outfit for me was a layer of thermal underwear, a lightweight shirt then a layer of fleece. Lastly a shell layer made up of Gortex waders and a Gortex jacket. With this set up I could handle anything the Mongolian wilderness weather threw at me.

Not all the Taimen were big but they were all very special.

Tackle
For the grayling, lennock and smaller taimen we used light spin outfits and 5 – 6 weight fly rods. A range of small bladed lures along with a few lipless crankbaits did the damage for me. Flies consisted mainly of Czech nymphs in sizes 8 and 10 although we did have some dry fly fishing with wulffs and humpies getting their share.

On the Fly!!

The taimen were another thing altogether. A heavy spin rod that could cast large spinnerbaits, bladed spinners and bibbed minnows was needed then a heavier rod that could throw a half kilo bait. Think of a rod you’d live bait the rocks for kingfish with but multi piece for ease of travel. The baits were rigged on two trebles (although I believe this may now be illegal) one hooked through the top of the jaw and the other pinned just lightly back towards the tail. Ten and twelve weight rods were needed for the fly and huge streamers took the few taimen that were landed. The fly count was very low even though at least one of use was casting a fly for most of the first half of the trip. All this gear needed to come in at under 20kg per person and Pat had warned us that if we were over that limit the chopper pilot would leave gear on the runway.........there didn’t seem to be any use in trying to get around this either. Old helicopters, pilots that looked and acted like (and probably were) part of the Russian mafia all added to the argument of just getting it right from the start.

Getting ready to raft the river.

Over the course of our stay we racked up something like 40 taimen from tiny dinks to a beast of a fish in excess of 1.3 meters and another of about 1.26 taken on the fly. There was any number of lennock taken to 3.5 kilo and we would have easily caught over 500 grayling along with them.

Would I do it again? In a heartbeat!

Taimen were the reason that we went to Mongolia and I have to say that we had a great trip with plenty of big fish getting caught. What I enjoyed most though was the adventure aspect of it all. I was out of my comfort zone for a lot of the trip and I loved it. The fishing, the people, the food and the culture were all fantastic and I’d recommend it to anyone with the chance to go.

Compleat Angler Melbourne's trip tips
Carry multi piece rods that fit inside other luggage. This will minimise weight while making your expensive tackle less obvious to thieves.
Use top quality layered clothing to maximise warmth while keeping space and weight to a minimum.
Get good quality well fitting boots and wear them in prior to the trip. Top end wading boots were the go and offered the most traction across various types of terrain including slippery river rocks.
Travel with like minded souls. A two week trip with the wrong companion can turn the trip of a lifetime into a nightmare.