The Rare Giants Of Mongolia

Dreaming of untouched water where no Westerner has gone before? Contributor TOM BOYD makes the journey to remotest Mongolia.

My massive fly was a composite of three huge individual flies. I plopped it down behind the enormous boulder I was tenuously balancing on in the middle of Mongolia’s swift-running Shishged River. Our guide Amara Simms and fishing companion Mike Marshall had just distinctly spotted the rare 5ft taimen as we scoured the clear waters from our inflatable. From the depths it charged the mop-like fly with open jaws, rolled on it – and, incredibly, missed. We stayed and fished to no avail from our position for another 15 minutes until Amara discouragingly shook his head. We were done. Sadly, I’d have to wait for my first taimen, but the excitement the three of us shared trying and almost catching one was white knuckled exhilaration.

BACKGROUND

Taimen are arguably the most aggressive cold-water species on Earth – true mega fish! They’re also undoubtedly fly fishing’s greatest freshwater challenge. Fighting 6ft of peeved-off, breathtaking airborne fury on a fly was beyond any angler’s expectations until they discovered Mongolia. In recent years, Mongolia has introduced critically important regulatory methods to protect endangered taimen and their habitat. The largest taimen was officially caught on Russia’s Kotui River in 1943, measuring 83 inches and weighing 231lb. Taimen are salmonids, one of the most ancient members of the trout species, and aptly named the river wolf. They eat almost anything that moves in their domain, including muskrats, ducks and beavers from the surface, other taimen and even Pacific and king salmon where their ranges overlap in the Tugursky Nature Reserve in the lower Amur watershed. Taimen will also take dries from the surface and put on a spectacular aerial display with strong, powerful runs.