Both Fish Mongolia and Sweetwater Travel are featured on National Geographic’s Hooked episode ‘Monster Fish of Mongolia’ with Zeb Hogan.

Aquatic ecologist Zeb Hogan continues his quest to find and protect the worlds largest freshwater fish in the frigid rivers of Mongolia. He will travel by plane, truck, and horseback to find the largest trout known as the Hucho taimen. This is not your everyday dinner trout. This monster can grow up to 6 feet in length and weighs up to 200 pounds. Once king of the river, the taimen is starting to disappear. And as winter approaches and temperatures drop, Zeb will be up against a tight deadline. Join him and a team of scientists, anglers, and local Mongolians as they search for the worlds largest trout: the Taimen.

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This ugly YouTube video shows a Belgian angler landing a Taimen from the Shishged River in Northern Mongolia.  The Taimen was released, but not before it had been dragged up the bank and rolled in the sand and silt.  This video has generated a number of comments highly critical of the angler.

“That is a despicable display of fish handling, disgraceful really”

“Poor Handling. I cringed every time you beached one of those beautiful fish. Keep sand away from the gills… it would be like having sand shoved down your throat. Keep them in the water…”

And the telling response from the angler:

“Hello I don’t understand what you mean , please tell me…”

Unfortunately this is an example of what happens when outfitters who have little or no experience of fishing organize fishing trips to Mongolia for clients who likewise don’t know how to handle and release fish properly.  The Taimen could have, and should have, been kept in the water while being released; it is possible to do this by grasping the tail with a gloved hand, or using a large net or sling.  Dragging a fish up the bank, putting your hands in the gills, hauling it up by the gills, rolling it in the sand etc will reduce the fish’s chance of survival.  In my nine years in Mongolia I have seen two floaters caused by improper handling; bad handling won’t kill every fish but certainly some will not make it.  Treble hooks only make matters worse.  Taimen are under pressure and need to be given the best chance of survival if we catch and release them.

Catch and release for Taimen is now mandatory in Mongolia, and with single barbless hooks only, but we still have a long way to go in educating anglers and outfitters.  Please follow our Taimen catch and release guidelines published here, and please choose to fish Mongolia with responsible outfitters who hire trained and knowledgeable guides.

Taimen video clip on youtube by National Geographic

Taimen Profile by National Geographic:

“The taimen is the largest member of the salmonid family, which also includes trout and salmon. These fish are fierce predators that sometimes chase their prey in packs, a practice that earned them the nickname “river wolves.”  They have gray-green heads with streamlined, reddish-brown bodies. And they can be enormous, with particularly large specimens reaching six feet (two meters) long.

Taimen, also called giant Eurasian trout, are notoriously voracious and have a varied diet that includes primarily fish, but also ducks and even mammals like rats or bats. These insatiable fish will also prey upon one another. Some large taimen are known to have suffocated while trying to swallow a slightly smaller member of their own species.”

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Four fishing guides from Jackson Hole, Wyoming, depart on a journey around the world to northern Mongolia, in search of the native fish known as the Taimen. After more than a week of travel they finally reach their destination, and cast their flies for this unique salmonid. A relative of the trout, it can live to be over thirty years old and reach lengths in excess of 60 inches. Along the way they learn of the struggles that this fish has gone through and still will face as the modern world meets with one of the last pristine wildernesses. A fishing trip colored with the people and culture of Mongolia that is as much an adventure as it is a plea for conservation. The anglers set out in search of a fish, and end up finding so much more when they reach the….. end of the road.

Link: Buy the DVD here