Mongolia is usually associated with the Gobi Desert and Genghis Khan. It is a special attraction for hunters and anglers. Years ago, there were some difficulties for wider tourism. Now that has changed and Mongolia has become fashionable not only for fishermen and hunters. People who want to see the few places in the world fly there, where there is a clean environment and full of natural beauty. They meet great hospitality in this country. Wealthy anglers, who have already "passed" their hunting for marlin or barracuda and are not scared by the costs, this time they would like to try their luck with fishing for lenok and, above all, for taimen, who here grows up to 50 Kg. Np. for a week's fishing on Lake Hubsubguł (one hundred several dozen kilometers in length and depth up to 265 m) and the river Ejgin Gol – you have to pay 1050 dollars. Some anglers fly by helicopter to inaccessible areas, even for one day. I made my first fishing trip to Mongolia in 1977 year, and the last one took place in July and August this year. I was fishing on most rivers in Mongolia, over Onon (Genghis Khan's birthplace), I'll avoid it, Orchon (described by Jerzy Putrament), Moray eel, Jeroo, Tengiz Gołem and above all several times over Yenisei, called Shishhid Gol in the Mongolian language. This river flows down the mountains, where several peaks rise above 3000 m n.p.m. It flows through the Darchacka Basin, flowing forward into Lake Cagaan Nuur (Lake Białe). To get to this lake you have to fly to Aymak Habsubgulski – the city of Muren, and from here our good and old Antek to the district town – Agaan Nur. There used to be a hunting and fishing farm here. Hence the boat from this farm – it allowed us to reach the fork of the Shishhid Gou river and the smaller river – Tengiz Golu. In this place – We set up tents next to the larch larch. Hence we had 50 meters to Je-niseju i 250 m to Tengiz Golu. From our place we saw on the other side a mountainous taiga of light green color and a few dark green spots, testifying to the presence of Siberian cedars.
On the other hand, we were surrounded by steppe and hills, where could be seen – as if a tall "chocolate cake" – remains of the stronghold from the times of Genghis Khan. On the steppe stood a two-meter stone pillar with distinct indents. Apparently, the Mongols tied their horses in this place – while the vehicle is stationary – before heading west. Looking towards the river – high mountains could be seen, in the higher levels – covered with snow. On the other side of the large river, you could see the mouth of a small river, where we mainly caught very large grayling and lenok (Brachy-mistrax Lenok).
August has a changing aura: once – On the first of August, a snowstorm collapsed our tent. Warm clothes should be taken on such a holiday. And alcohol will also come in handy. A bottle of such a liquid is displayed near the tent – It looks like this, as if it were taken out of the freezer compartment. What is fish for here? For everything, what turns and swims and on large grasshoppers. We used Mepps (mainly spinners) but also our Gnomes, Algae and Kalewy were also good. Abu's spinners were equally effective. I had very good results, when I was using Abu and Rapala lures. As for the seasons, when the fish take well – they do not matter much. At noon I caught a taimen weighing on the smaller Tenga river 19 Kg, length 135 Cm, using the Abu Diplomat Rod, Cardinal reel 44, Meppsa Aglia No. 4 (gold) and French Crióit diameter line 0,35 Mm. The lobby continued 45 min. The most voracious and brave is lenok. The largest lenok caught had a mass 4,5 Kg. Large grayling exceeded the weight 1-1,5 Kg. The following fact proves the frequency of bites: fishing on the Yenisei – I had over 40 minutes – 45 "Bite", towing 42 art. They were lenoki and taimen (into 3,5 Kg). I sent all the fish I caught to the river. We set daily catch limits. Mostly for consumption. To avoid gastronomic monotony – we used a varied menu. It was "ear" in addition to frying, as well as grayling or marinated lenok. We intended large pieces for cold smoking. Grilled taimen was also tasty.
The night catching taimen was the most exciting. We already had artificial rats and mice ready. For night fishing you need a long and strong rod and an extremely strong line.
We recorded the best fishing results, when there was no moon, there were clouds, and the worst is when the moon is full. Such a rat or a mouse – it throws itself out far into the river and allows it to run off at a distance 30-50 meters. Then the line is shortened very slowly, so, that the bait floating on the surface creates a wake at the rear. You can sometimes hear your tail hit the surface of the water, but rather a heavy blow is felt and the haul begins. Night makes it difficult to fully control the line inventory. It was like that in my case. As soon as I realized after a half-hour of lobbying, that the line ends, I was severely punished – at some point, after running out of stock, I was left with only an empty reel. It happened very often, because each of us has lost the artificial bait along with the entire supply of line. It was not possible to catch the taimen above at night 20 Kg.
About that, the strength of a large taimen is evidenced by the following event: I gave the accompanying Mongolian a very large Canadian anchor for night fishing for taimen. After half an hour of hunting, he came to me and showed me this anchor: one arrowhead was torn off. Turned out, that towing a giant taimen – he threw his fishing rod on his shoulder and was moving away from the shore as quickly as possible. And after "tea". The mainsail broke but the millimeter line remained. The rat swallowed – taimen. We often dissected them after catching taimens at night. We found the remains of small ducks or steppe suslikes in their stomachs. The Mongols fish in different ways: most often for converted large spoons. For nocturnal taimen hunting, they use a halved large lenok. By attaching two anchors to it, throw into the river current and on 1-2 minutes they pull out. Apparently, a large and cunning taimen cannot resist it.
At the Orchon River I became interested in the Mongolian, holding a thick rope in his hand, walked downstream, watching this part of the rake flowing on the water, to which the pegs are attached. After pulling this part of the "rake" to the shore – turned out, that in the place of the tees – pieces of strands were attached, to which the hooks are tied, on which there were large grasshoppers. After a few minutes of such fishing – he had several lenoks and large graylings each time.
summarizing – the nature of Mongolia is beautiful. The angler will never run out of fish here and will always be greeted with great hospitality by their inhabitants.
And he will have a great adventure, and for the townspeople it will be an unforgettable school of survival under the purest skies of Mongolia.