Mongolia 2002

Mongolia is a huge, mountainous (80% of the territory rises above 1000 m above sea level) and poorly populated country. Its area of 1564 thousands km2 is inhabited by only 2,5 million people! High mountains (the highest 4374 m), huge lakes (the largest of 3350 km2), thousands of rivers. And of course the famed for dinosaurs Gobi desert with the biggest daily and annual temperature differences (the highest difference noted 91*C!). Briefly stated - the legend!

The biggest difficulties in traveling in Mongolia are its huge distances. In order to reach more interesting (more desolate) places you need to travel thousands of miles, out of which only a small percentage lie near travel routes similar to our roads. All travelers who have visited Mongolia recently agree that this is no longer the same country they remember. And it is true - from time to time you can see the signs of so called western civilization. It enters this country quite little however and it is enough to move a couple hundreds of miles from Ułan Bator to find in the steppe a Mongolian in traditional dress, carrying a one hundred year old riffle, in order to get the feeling of moving back in time.

As with the majority of trout anglers I have been dreaming about such trip for years. I managed to convince a couple of friends to join me. All that was left was to gather as much information as possible and to decide about the time and the route of our expedition. Relying upon opinions of colleagues who have already visited Mongolia several times we decided to visit first Ogij Lake, famous from its huge pike and perch, and after that to move to Chulut River.

We landed in Ułan Bator on 5 September, after over 20 hours of flight through Berlin and Moscow. We have met our local guides - Suche and Dżige. Already at the airport, they took us from there to the hotel.

Travel to Ogij Nuur took us only a day but it was quite tiresome. The so-called road ended after one hundred kilometers and after that we were following tracks of our predecessors, through the steppe, in clouds of yellow-gray dust. The average speed reached by off-road vehicles in Mongolia is 30 km/h. Besides, judging distances, there is no point in watching a map. The road is always a way longer, going zigzag through valleys and passes not suitable for a car at all.

Ogij Nuur

Ogij Nuur is a large and mysterious lake. We agreed that it had surely been created millions of years ago. Gentle, steppe shore with no vegetation, diversified with groups of rocks from time to time rubbling into the water. In the entire area we have explored the slope of the lake's bottom was very gentle. Usually 100 meters from the shore the depth was about 1,5 - 2 meters. After long searching we have found the depth of four meters around 300 meters from the shore. The lake has made me thing of a huge platter, filled with water and squeezed in between gentle, barren hills. Suche - our local guide has confirmed that he has caught here three years ago a pike of the length of 150 cm! And that was not everything. Supposedly his friend has caught here a fish 152 cm long. But I have been really amused with a story about the biggest predator caught in Ogij Nuur. Suche has sworn that this pike was 2,1 meters long! Soon he has added though that the fish was not that long - probably only somewhere around 180 cm! After hearing that I have simply stopped asking Suche about pikes. I really wanted to believe that at least a part of his information was true.

Obviously, as expected we haven't beaten the World's pike record. We have affirmed though that such a large fish can live in this place. For the last three years on the north shore of Ogij Nuur there has existed a very professionally prepared camping. The owner of this camping is very nice Enchbajar (translates into "holiday") - former colonel of the Mongolian army. It turned out that years ago he was in Warsaw, Poland for a couple of days. On a high slope there were a couple of yurts adjusted for tourists' needs. One of them, a bit bigger than others, played the role of dining room. The entire camp uses energy from solar batteries. We have been really amazed by the well-stocked cocktail cabinet and satellite TV that provided entertainment for camping guests. After eating a quite tasty two-course meal we have discovered an elegant privy on a camping ground - what a joy it was!

The owner had three boats at his disposal. Two of them were old Russian landing boats certainly dating back to World War II. These boats were huge and heavy, nearly rectangular water vehicles, equipped with creaking oars that left the impression that they were about to break. They allowed slow movement on the lake surface only if there was no wind. After long haggling we have rented these boats for 5 USD per day. Unfortunately next day the owner stated that he had made a mistake and that he was thinking about 10 USD. We agreed to that change, knowing that we would be leaving in two days anyway. On the third day of our stay however it grew windy. We thought then about the third boat equipped with an engine. Here unfortunately the "mercantile skills" of our host came into play. He asked 15 USD .... per hour! Knowing that 15 USD equals an average monthly salary in Mongolia we found the price not acceptable. Anyway, we fished one and a half days from boats, and later from the shore. During these three days we have managed to catch about 50 pike, weighing between 2 and 7 kg. The longest fish - 108, 101 and 98 cm - were caught by Tadek and Adam. The majority of fish were over 3 kg. Predators caught near the shore, on a shallow water of the depth of 0,5 - 1 m were usually slender and more silver. Near the end of our stay we found a gently slope going to the depth of 4 meters. In a short time we have had over a dozen of bites there and landed fish were fat and enormously strong. The highlight of Ogij Nuur is also undoubtly perch. I don't think that it would be a problem for anyone knowing a bit about perch fishing to catch a few dozens of one-kilogram perch per day of fishing. We focused mainly on pike, so perch bites were rather accidental. It is enough to say that I have caught perch between 0,8 and 1 kg using the following pike lures: Whitefish 18F GS, Fatso 14F RPH and Slider 12 RR! Landed perch were usually accompanied by a school of others following them just to the boat. We also learned that there are huge eels, whitefish and carp living in this lake. It would certainly be worthwhile to visit this place again. The lake is huge, very old and surely it still hides multiple mysteries! However, if you are going there you should consider taking with you sonar and a boat, or at least an engine in order to mount on these floating washtubs, and also good anchors. Taking into account distances though it wouldn't be easy.

On the third day the wind was so strong that we started to be afraid about the tents placed on the open shore of the lake. Using a boat was not at all possible. We have fished a bit from shore and on the next day we set out on a journey to the Chulut River

Here are addresses if you are interested: Camping on Ogij-Nuur - "ANOD BANK" TUR BAZA "OGIJ", tel: + 1 / 450101 (home number in Ulaanbaatar), Contact name - ENCHBAJAR

Around noon we reached an interesting place. It is a 50 meter long, deep part of the river with a huge rock in its middle. We fished out this place from both banks, Artur and I from the left and Tadek from the right. After a few lenoks' bites Tadek reported that he had a trophy fish. Soon we saw in crystal clear water a huge fish turning somersaults near the bottom. After couple of minutes I decided to cross the river in order to give Tadek a hand and maybe to make some pictures. As soon as I go to the water I see that the fish no longer had the lure in its jaws but on its back, near a dorsal fin! Possibly during the fight the lure moved while the fish was wrapped around with a line. Hell, he is lucky- I thought. I moved slowly through the water, with the surface nearly reaching my armpits, and observing a couple of dozens of lenoks escaping just from under my feet. In the same time Tadek led his fish to a tiny, muddy bay. When I approached, in the muddy water I could see only a part of its back with a wobbler attached to the fish with one hook near the dorsal fin. I put my arms into the water in order to find the end of this monster's head. The current clears water and after a couple of seconds I could look at the eyes of the fish. I was speechless - the fish was huge! I moved my fingers gently looking for any crack in the gills area. No luck! Its huge head looked as though it were carved out of marble. Unintentionally I raised its head towards the surface. The taimen visibly did not like that and moved on like torpedo downstream. With one leap it reached the middle of the river. There it turned and ... the hook broke. The giant slowly descended towards thebottom where it seemed that each tiny stone was visible. Then the fish suddenly disappeared! I looked at Tadek, judging my chances in a direct combat with a furious bull. But this is not the case. As usual with an expert hunter he was calm. It was obvious I was sorry - not everyone had a chance to have such a huge fish in his hands. Supposedly you should gently tickle fish under its mouth as long as it opens the gills. Well, how should I know that? Maybe it would be better to try to put my arms under it and throw it on a bank? Who knows? Tough luck!

Until dinner we caught a few small taimens and a bunch of lenoks. In camp we learned that our colleagues also had their first encounters with taimens upstream. A bit later, eating lenok sashimi and sipping good Irish whiskey, we observed a few large fish feeding regularly on a surface on small mayflies. It turned out that these were lenoks. They bite like crazy. It is hard to describe fighting 60 cm long fish with fly-fishing equipment, with a dry fly tied to the leader of 0,16 mm in diameter! I can only say that I doubt it could happen to me elsewhere. Only maybe next year, back in Mongolia. We catch as many of them as we want with Mariusz and Adam. I managed to catch the biggest just in front of the camera lens. It is 63 cm long. On shallow swifts we managed to catch some grayling. These were not huge fish though (usually between 35 and 41 cm), so we haven't really hunted for them. Generally it turned out that grayling here preferred Bullhead 4 Salmo over any flies! In 15 minutes I caught 16 graylings and 4 lenoks just on a small Bullhead lure. Mariusz, using fly-fishing equipment before I started, caught in the same place 6 or 7 graylings in an hour.

We tried to lure a beast at night. No luck. Another day also did not bring any biggies. We caught taimens but only small ones. Adam caught the first one on streamer. In the evening we decided to visit our yesterday's "buddy". I cross a river and fish in a similar place 100 meters downstream. Soon it gets dark and I have my braided line tangled. I realize with terror that my famous flashlight Maglite does not work! The thought of the way back to the camp sent shivers down to my spine. Fortunately I discovered Tadek's presence nearby, who shone and shone with his flashlight. He had probably also got his line tangled. I managed to put everything back under control by cutting tangled part of a line and tying a new knot in a blinking light of a lighter. Why he was shining so much? I did not have too much time to think about that since I had a couple of bites in a very short time. First comes lenok - the biggest caught - 65 cm! Soon after a huge splash on a surface -it was a taimen over 80 cm. There was a moment of silence and again a splash in a middle of the current. I more heard than saw the fish jumping and squirming in darkness. For a moment I caught a flash of a white belly in a dim moonlight. The fish has surely over 90 cm. After a couple of seconds the fish broke off the hook.

That is enough! Tadek was still shining his flashlight. Now I am a bit more nervous. Maybe something has happened? Okay, three more casts and I would leave. The first cast brings lenok. A bit smaller- around 60 cm. Nothing on the second cast. Third cast takes the lure in darkness near the opposite bank. After two moves of the reels crank, I felt resistance. That's it - the bigger the taimen is, the calmer is the bite. I was so stressed with my lack of flashlight and with the consciousness that I would have to go back with no light that I forgot to set the hook. Actually I don't know why. A huge taimen answered to my light-heartedness with three powerful moves in a current and of course it spat out my Whitefish lure. I said a couple of bad words to him, drowned out anyway by the wild current of Chulut. I gave up!

I headed back, saying all the prayers I know. It was terrible. I fingered the space ahead of me, moving cautiously step by step. It was not that simple. The entire bank was covered with rocks, some of them as big as a car! I climbed them and descended thinking what I would do if I broke my leg. However I was slowly getting closer to Tadek, who by the way was on the other side of the river. I was about 50 meters from the light of his flashlight when I realized that he was ... going away! Well, of course, he had been waiting so long and finally decided to go back. Without me! Taaaaaadek!!! I yell as strong as I can, trying to be louder that the river. A miracle - he heard that!

Thanks to his flashlight I cross the river and a moment later I admired the reason for his long signaling with his light. There was a taimen on a bank - 124 cm long. It was caught exactly in the same place where the previous giant broke the hook. But this was not the same one - this fish had no signs of a hook near his dorsal! We returned to the camp. In the morning we weighed the fish (16 kg) and took a lot of pictures. Despite common opinion fried taimen turned out to be an excellent dish, much better than graylings and lenoks in any form.

Another day, another fish. We moved a bit downstream. We fished in new, excellent places. Unfortunately nothing apart from reliable lenoks were biting. In the night we fished a huge depth under rock as high as tower block. Here I cught my biggest taimen - 96 cm - and Tadek another one - 90 cm. During the day nothing bigger again. In the night we went back to the big taimen's hideout. Adam and Mariusz stayed downstream, but we went to the old place. Unfortunately big fish did not show up. After two hours Mariusz joined us and reported catching a fish over one meter. We went back. The two taimen are 102 cm and 9 kg. Another photo session in the morning. During the day we caught lenoks on flies and wobblers. Artur went back after two hours saying that he needed a rest. His entire forearm hurt from landing lenoks. It was his own choice - he used thin line and wobbler Salmo Minnow 7F Trout. He caught several dozen lenoks and a couple of large grayling.

In the evening we went back to our lucky spot once again. Artur and Tadek went to the usual place. I checked the spot where Mariusz caught his biggie. Adam was still tying the lure when I caught a taimen with my second cast. Unfortunately nothing special - only 95 cm. But how brave these fish are! Unfortunately our equipment did not allow them to perform a full show. They seem to be at full strength when landed. It is really difficult to handle them for this very short moment needed to release them from a hook, especially because we all try to do that as gently as possible. I moved slowly towards Tadek and Artur. They had not had any bites yet.

Tadek generously allowed Artek to fish in the best place. Just before it grew dark I heard the sounds of chaos. Soon Tadek arrived, saying that just a moment ago Artur had lost a huge taimen. It is possible that this was that fish with a hook in its back. Or maybe more of them live here? Just after a dozen seconds of fight a split ring broke. Well, we had overlooked this detail. We could only see the signs of the terrible jaws of a monster on our 13 cm Whitefish jointed lure. Too bad, especially because fish might be in trouble because of a treble hook.

On the next day we moved again. We moved much farther this time. We found a new ford Suche had just learned about from hunters we met. Fording a river is an adventure on its own. Our UAZ's moved through rocky, fast river submerged nearly to half their height. We reached our destination in the late afternoon. We saw a huge, nearly vertical rock on the other side of the river, and here we set up a camp ten meters from the river. The river itself was filled with lenoks, as always here. There were also a lot of graylings. About 200 meters downstream from our camp the river turned left, then went straight faster, then grew calmly again. We could instantly see that the river is deep in middle.

The next morning was more difficult than usual, especially that the usually moderate temperature during the night (-5 - 10°C) dropped below -16°C. Moreover, that rock on the other side of the river was east of us, so we were in shadow until noon. During the day we moved downstream, finding new, fantastic places. Unfortunately all taimens we caught were small ones. We decided that during the night we would fish this deep hole downstream, close to our camp. Right at sunset I caught a taimen a bit shorter than 90 cm. Later Tadek tied a surface "crawler" lure. Just after a couple of casts we heard a commotion on the surface, and soon swearwords - the fish was gone. Soon after we heard - Got it! There is no justice in this world! Tadek had a biggie again! Soon the fish was landed - it is 112 cm and 12 kg. We took a photo and release the fish. Both of us, with Artur, tie "rats" - lures I made from Salmo Perch 12F lures, wrapping them around with rabbit fur. We had several dozen bites within an hour, but unfortunately in majority of cases we were unable to set the hook. Probably the majority of fish were lenoks since we finally land a few. It is incredible that they attack "rats" so aggressively, since this lure barely can fit into their mouth!

Suddenly again we heard a din on the surface - this time Artur had a big fish! He set the hook twice by the book and fought the fish calmly. Soon we see taimen in all its glory. It was at least as big as the one Tadek had just caught. Unfortunately the fish wiggled off the hook soon. Artur was experiencing a temporary crisis. But he is a tough guy; he got on his feet very soon. Unfortunately, this was the end of taimens. On the last day we went downstream, we caught plenty of lenoks. Mariusz went on his own upstream and caught a few there. One was larger, but soon escaped, confirming the fact that using small treble hooks is a big mistake when fishing for these monsters. The weather worsened, and despite the fact that we repeated our night session, the results were close to zero!

On our way back we stopped at the Tuł River, flowing through the capital of Mongolia. Despite Suche's opinion that "all kind of fish live here," we were not impressed. Wide, shallow current with nearly no obstacles is not the condition for great success. In the evening we caught a few wels (around 60 cm each) that should not be feeding at all in such temperatures (air -5*C, water possibly +4*C). Well, but it seems you can always count on a power of the Salmo lures! In a morning we tried to find bigger wels. Unfortunately nothing was biting. We only saw shoals of beautiful carp and small wels. Our party caught a few small lenoks. This was the end of our expedition. We returned to the capital of Mongolia a day earlier. Well, this was the margin of error we made.

Summing up, five of us caught around 50 taimen, a couple dozen grayling and plenty of lenoks. We did not beat any record, but this was not the goal of our trip. We were on the other edge of this world, fishing for beautiful fish in the crystal clear current of a magic river. We visited a lake that surely remembers the age of dinosaurs. We also met some Mongolian people, so different from us but yet nice and friendly. We learned a lot. We will be better prepared for the next trip. The longer I think about the Chulut River, the more I understand how many mistakes we have made. Maybe it is not necessary to go to famous Szyszchid River in order to catch a taimen as big as a small car. The most important feature of the trip, for me, was that our lures have proven themselves in these extreme conditions giving us all so much joy and so many wonderful experiences.

Special thanks to Jurek Romańczuk - our guide, carer and survival guru! 

Here is a contact to his school of survival: JEROME Akademie-Velpke Am Friedhof 1
38458 Meinkot/Velpke
Tel. 05364-2554, Handy 0172-8934248, Fax 05364-3276
Zweigstelle Polen: Tel. 0048-95-7615-652, Fax. 0048-95-7615-330
mailto: Jerome.Akademie@lycosmail.com
http://members.tripod.de/Jerome_Akademie< /a>