Rok Hace | December 2022

Our goal in 2022 was to catch a Taimen – a close asian relative to the European Hucho Hucho, and an aggressive fresh water apex predator that promises an explosive strike and exhilarating fight.

What better destination to think of than Mongolia. Luka and I headed there in early September without any special expectation only to be blown away by the wild beauty of Mongolia. After a long 9 hours of flying and 12 hours of driving through the wilderness we finally reached the base camp at River Egg.

Day 1

We started out drifting downstream with 3 boats searching for spots to fish. Both of us were equipped with CTS Affinity SK #11 switch rods and some single hand Affinity X rods in 12wt as back-ups. As we use the same rods for hucho fishing there wasnt anything new to learn.

We both knew it would be hard to catch one and that proved to be true a few hours into the first day. There were plenty of surface takes but it was extremely difficult to hook up a fish – probably due to light mouse patterns that were just blown away by the brute force of the fish hitting the fly. After some adaptations everything turned out great. We both ended up catching several taimen.

Day 2

The second day of the trip was one of the most amazing fishing days I’ve ever had. Being hosted by a local guide, we tried to catch a Mongolian pike in a shallow meander cutoff. I was using Affinity X 12wt single handed rod and a floating line and I guess on my third cast all the stars aligned because I hooked a monstrous taimen. A huge surprise on a pike spot! Like many times before the Affinity X performed flawlessly and I netted the fish myself.

As the days passed by we have landed several other fish but none as big as my trophy taimen. As we got home after an amazing week in one of the most beautiful and wild countries in the world the hucho season was already closing in. The season opener was amazing as always and me and the team caught some very nice fish that you can see in our Instagram feed.

Tight lines!

Rok