Fish Mongolia

Fly Fishing is for Taimen, Lenok and Grayling

Taimen (Hucho taimen) are a freshwater salmonid that can grow to huge proportions.  The average Taimen in the rivers we fish are around 30 inches long, weighing roughly 12lbs, but there are many of over 40 or even 50 inches (20 - 40 lb or more).  They are an aggressive fish that feed on anything that they can fit in their mouth, from minnows and fry to mature grayling and trout, or even small birds or rodents. 

Research and surveys show that the highest potential density of Taimen is around 20 per mile (30/km), but realistically the healthiest Mongolian rivers have Taimen populations of around 6 to 15 Taimen per mile (10-25/km).  Likewise the big ‘trophy’ Taimen are relatively rare, no surprise considering a 55-inch Taimen (140cm) could be more than 30 years old.  So it’s important to have the right expectations in terms of numbers and size of Taimen that may be caught on a trip: it’s more akin to Steelhead fishing in terms of catch for effort.  More information on Taimen ecology can be found here .

Lenok (Brachymstax lenok) are the Mongolian equivalent of a trout, distantly related to Char, generally around 15 to 20 inches (2 to 3 lb) they can grow to over 30 inches. Grayling are plentiful in Mongolia’s waters and there are in fact five sub-species here.  The lenok and grayling readily take dry flies, and a hopper-dropper rig is especially effective.  This is world-class trout fishing, and some of our guests come solely to fish for Lenok and Grayling.

We will provide a comprehensive list of equipment and tackle for the trip. We fish for Taimen mainly with ‘dry’ flies and poppers on floating lines: streamers fished with a sinking line are also effective.  A 9 ft rod for 8 or 9 weight lines is generally recommended for Taimen fishing, but we also encourage Taimen fishing with double-handed rods. For Lenok and Grayling a 4, 5 or 6 weight rod and floating line is suitable.