THE FISH SPECIES FOUND IN THE MONGOLIAN RIVERS

The stream's most famous residents are the gigantic Taimen (Hucho taimen). Taimen are the largest member of the Salmonidae family.

The average size of a Taimen is typically 80 - 100 cm (over three feet) and fisherman regularly encounter monsters that approach 150 cm (fifty inches or more). The Taimen weight reaches 10 to 14 lbs.

Taimen 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. The Taimen is an ancient water animal found once from Eastern Europe to Northern Japan.

They are an exclusively freshwater fish and healthy populations are only found in Siberia and Mongolia in a few pristine river systems.

Now endangered over much of its range, healthy populations can still be found in remote parts of Russia and Mongolia. It is essential that Taimen caught are returned so that healthy Taimen populations are conserved for the future.

Taimen fishing is strictly catch and release at most fishing camps. The Taimen Conservation Fund is implementing a major conservation and research project on the Eg-Uur River Watershed aimed at creating a sustainable catch and release taimen fishery and establishing a model for taimen conservation in Mongolia.

Lenok (Brachymstax lenok) are the Mongolian equivalent of a trout. Lenoks are found only in North East Asia. Lenok typically measure over 18 inches (2 to 3 lb) but can grow to over 30 inches in Mongolia. The Lenok spend a majority of their time in shallow water where they are very accessible to anglers’ fishing assorted dry flies and terrestrials. These are an exciting sport fish and a good angler may catch twenty or more of these beautiful fish during a day.

Grayling (Thymallus thymallus) is another fish from the Salmonidae family. There are plentiful in Mongolia’s waters and there are in fact three sub-species here, depending in which of the 3 Mongolian draining system the Grayling is found. The largest of the graylings in terms of length is the Arctic grayling (T. arcticus arcticus) at a maximum length of 76 cm (30 in) and a maximum weight of 3.8 kg (8.4 lb); other subspecies of the Grayling are typically half this length or less.