Winter Getaways
C ON TINUED
A BIG TAIMEN,
READY TO BE
RELEASED
FISHING IN
MONGOLIA
M
ongolia is a distant, wild place. Visiting
there, you can still feel the spirit of Genghis
Khan, who ruled Mongolia in the 13th
century and launched the Mongol Empire,
which grew to become the largest contigu-
ous empire in history.
I traveled to Mongolia to find big fish that also reflect
Khan’s spirit. Taimen (hucho hucho taimen) are the
world’s largest salmonids. They grow to more than five
feet long, and they hunt prey in packs. They are known as
“river wolves” and they make short work of mice unlucky
enough to fall into their waters.
Today, when you fly into Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia’s
capital city, you land at an airport named after Genghis.
(Mongolians call him Chinggis Khaan.) Streets are named
after him, his likeness graces public buildings and people
still search for his burial site. Wedged between Russia to
the north and China to the east, south and west, Mongolia
has probably needed some of Khan’s spirit to remain
independent. Mongolians are proud, strong people, and
they hold Khan’s memory close.
University of Oregon School of Law graduate, Mark
Johnstad has built a unique enterprise in Mongolia that
aims to protect taimen and the rivers that support them.
His company, Mongolia River Outfitters (mongoliarivers.
com), calls itself “The Guides for Genghis Khan’s Home
Waters.” He has partnered with the World Wildlife Fund,
Rare (a conservation nonprofit) and local communities to
From the land of Ghengis Khan
come empire-sized fi sh BY B E RN JO H NSO N
PHOTO COURTESY DEREK JOHNSON
build support for protecting the fish, partly by creating a
catch-and-release sport fishery.
I flew into Ulaanbaatar and spent a short night in that
gritty city before flying out to land on the dirt airstrip in
Dadal in northeastern Mongolia. I shared the plane with
the other anglers in my party, coming from the U.S.,
France, Germany and New Zealand.
Flying low to stay below the clouds, we saw a lot of
wide-open country and not many people. Mongolia is
slightly larger than Alaska and is the least densely
populated country in the world. The Mongolian steppes
vaguely resemble open spaces of northeastern Oregon.
Many Mongolians still live as traditional herders, and we
saw sheep, cattle and horses tended by people on horseback.
Driving from Dadal to a tributary of the Amur River, we saw
no gas stations, but plenty of horses working to gather hay.
Arriving at the river, we were greeted by the familiar
sight of Clackamas drift boats, made in Oregon. Johnstad
bought them here, shipped them to Mongolia in containers
and hauled them to the river on specially built trailers.
Piloting the boats were Chilean fishing guides, who work
Mongolia during Chile’s off-season.
The river we floated is big and powerful, about the size of
Oregon’s lower Deschutes. It flows northeast out of Mongolia
into Siberia, where it eventually joins the Amur and flows into
the Pacific. We floated downstream for seven days, seeing
almost no sign of humans. Even the skies were clear — no
airplanes or contrails. The stars seemed bright enough to touch.
Young Mongolian apprentice guides steered rafts
downstream, carrying the camp crew and cooking gear.
We stayed one night in gers, the traditional circular felt
homes of Mongolia’s nomadic herders. Other nights, we
slept in comfortable tents.
The water was high and the catching slow, but we
caught enough taimen, lenok, Amur trout and Amur pike
to keep us happy. We fished with barbless hooks and
released all the fish. Taimen are truly impressive creatures
— it is almost scary when one erupts out of the water to
engulf the artificial mouse on your line. I caught them up
to 36 inches long, and a much larger one drifted up from
the depths to eye my mouse. I can still see that fish, which
I called “the telephone pole.”
As we neared the end of our float, we could see Russian
watchtowers on distant hilltops, surveying the border
region. We opted not to float on to the border and instead
climbed into ancient vans that took us to meet the plane
back to Ulaanbaatar. When the vans pulled onto a level
piece of steppe, we climbed out and erected a windsock to
create an airstrip. When the plane was ready to leave, a
Mongolian arrived on horseback to chase his horses off the
runway and we headed back to industrialized civilization. ■
Bern Johnson directs the work of the U.S. office of the Environmental Law Alliance
Worldwide (ELAW) and develops initiatives to protect the environment and human
rights through law and science. In addition to Mongolia, he has traveled to Africa,
Asia, Europe, the Middle East, the South Pacific, the Caribbean, and Central and
South America to work with ELAW partners. Two environmental lawyers from
Mongolia traveled to Oregon to work with ELAW early in 2012, and ELAW looks
forward to more collaboration with partners in Mongolia.
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eugeneweekly.com • October 18, 2012
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