Results  -  Mongolian Grayling, Spring 2014

The Altai Mountains in western Mongolia, at the borders with the vast countries Kazakhstan, Siberia, and China in central Asia, belong to the most remote and least explored mountain ranges of the continent.  

And like the highly valued big game animal of the high Altai Mountains, the giant bighorn sheep Argali,
- these deep lakes and remote river-systems also hold the largest grayling species of the world, the giant Mongolian predator grayling "Thymallus brevirostris Kessler".

Few sportsmen ever took the chance to go fishing with us into these unknown territories of the North-West, and to our knowing, no fly-fisherman from the States or from western Europe ever entered these hidden fishing grounds. Until this spring season in 2014, the year of the horse.

This year, spring arrived late at the foot of the snow-covered Altai Mountains in Mongolia, and the lakes still carried ice, and the rivers were swollen, when we commenced fishing with a small team of only
5 expert fly-fishermen from England, the States, from Switzerland, and Germany. But the torrents of spring were crystal clear and ice cold, the highland air pure and chilly, when we finally reached our encampment underneath the "Eternal Blue Sky" of Mongolia.

The common Arctic Grayling, which usually occupies these rivers in huge numbers each year, seemed to miss completely this season. But the giant Mongolian Grayling just began running up the rivers in fair ranks from the big lakes, in the effort to reach their spawning grounds in the mountains. Every fisherman was able to catch and release 5 to 15 grayling each day in the common size of 40 - 50 cm, and with a much bigger, occasional trophy-class grayling for the lucky ones.

Obviously we had arrived about a week too early at our Altai fishing grounds this year, and the precious
5 days of fishing were just too short. The big mature Predator Grayling were still expected to run up the rivers, and the heavy Altai Osman Bass was expected even later to leave their deep lakes for spawning.

Next year´s spring season will be planned for a full 14 day tour to the Altai Mountains, in order to take better advantage of the rich and various fishing opportunities across the vast National Park, and with a fair chance for each sportsman to land a precious Mongolian Grayling in the trophy and in the record-class of  60 - 80 cm in length, and further an impressive Altai Osman Bass exceeding 3 feet and reaching 35 pounds in weight ...

J. Haman

Taimen Tour Guide

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Our Altai encampment underneath the "Eternal Blue Sky" of Mongolia.

Even a young Altai Osman Bass on fly is a rare trophy and a precious endemic species of the Altai lakes.

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