Fish Mongolia Delger Muron Float Trip  

Mongolia

Fly Fishing Mongolia for Taimen and Lenok is reminiscent of fishing Montana and the American West before settlement. Here you will find some of the world’s largest remaining tracts of true wilderness, rich with clear, free-flowing rivers and vast golden forests of birch, aspen, larch and alder. You will also find the world’s largest salmonid, the taimen, a vicious surface-oriented predator known for its explosive dry fly takes. While these unique fish average 28 to 30 inches, anglers have landed fish in excess of 60 inches and had encounters with fish estimated at over 100 pounds! What is more remarkable is that the vast majority of these specimens are caught while skating large dry flies through classic steelhead-like runs.  Perhaps Mongolia’s best-kept fly-fishing secret, the Delger is one of the most beautiful rivers in Mongolia; carved through limestone and granite bedrock, the valley is flanked by spectacular cliffs and rock pinnacles. Even without the chance to catch a 50-inch Taimen the Delger Muron offers world-class trout fishing and scenery. Remote and inaccessible sections of the river offer pristine and secluded angling with access only by raft, and have very healthy Taimen populations, with Taimen over 50-inches in many pools. This freestone river also has abundant Lenok and Grayling, and it’s not uncommon to encounter Taimen attacking a hooked Lenok.

Fishing Program:

There is no doubt that multi day float trips are a wonderful way to see and fish a river and Fly Fish Mongolia’s Delger Muron trip is no exception. On the one week fishing expedition you will cover approximately 30 to 40 miles of the river using white water rafts as transportation. This means daily floats are relatively short (averaging only 5 to 8 miles a day), giving plenty of time to wade and fish the best fly water. Guests access the river via full frame rafts equipped with front and rear casting seats. This enables you to fish drift- boat style from the raft. However, we find most anglers prefer wading to fishing from a drift boat, so they have slowed down the pace of the float trips to give more wading opportunities. The emphasis is on the fishing not the floating, using rafts for pool-to-pool transport. This makes the trip suitable for fishing both double-handed and single-handed rods.

A typical day begins with fresh brewed coffee around the campfire, followed by a hearty breakfast with muesli, eggs, bacon or ham, and pancakes; then it’s time to get the waders on, and stow your bag in the raft. From there you can simply walk down to the river and start fishing, or get in the boat with your guide and drift to the next prime pool. Through the morning you will float to good pools then stop to wade and cover the water thoroughly. By lunchtime the crew raft will have caught up and will set up the fire pan on a gravel beach to grill the shore lunch of prime steaks or tasty kebab skewers. Then it’s back to the boats to fish, drift and wade into the evening. Arriving at camp you will find your tents set up, with time for a cold beer and wash up before dinner.

Guiding:
Fly Fish Mongolia hires both American and Mongolian guides and strives to have at least one experienced ‘western’ guide on each trip. One of their objectives is to promote the sport of fly-fishing in Mongolia, and part of this approach means hiring and training Mongolian’s as fly fishing guides. Jangar or ‘Jack’, one of their Mongolian fly-fishing guides, has over six years experience and is an accomplished fly-fisherman. Other local guides may have less experience but are capable of rowing boats, know where the fish are, and will help land and photograph your taimen. All efforts will be made to match you with a guide to suit your skill and experience, and the trip leader will spend time with whoever needs most help or ‘coaching’ on their fishing. They believe having a mostly Mongolian team adds considerably to the experience, and supports development of the sport (and catch and release ethics) in Mongolia.

Accommodations and Meals:
This is multi day down river camping trip meaning Fly Fish Mongolia will bring everything you need for the week downriver on the rafts. Each afternoon the staff will sent up comfortable camps, with individual tents, thermarest mattresses, and extra blankets for fall trips, a dining tent, camp chairs and tables, toilet tent and simple shower. They often include a layover day mid-trip to spend more time on prime pools. Base camps with gers (yurts) are set up at the put-in and take-out points, giving you space to organize your gear, clean up, and have a night in a bed at each end of the float.
Note: You need to bring your own sleeping bag.

Sample Itinerary:
Day 1: Arrive in Ulaanbaatar where you will be met by Fly Fish Mongolia’s manager. Overnight at a city centre hotel, and time for sightseeing (depending on arrival time)
Day 2: Transfer back to the airport (30 to 40 minutes) to check in for the one and a half hour domestic flight to Muron (either a Saab 340 or Boeing 737). At Muron airport you will be met by Fly Fish Mongolia’s local representative and a member of the guide team. From there it is under four hours by Toyota land-cruiser to the fishing camp, where we put in for the float trip. Arriving at the camp by evening, you’ll spend tonight in a traditional Mongolian ger (yurt).
Day 3: Begin the float trip: you will be allocated two anglers to a boat, rowed by one of the guides
Day 4 to 7: Float trip and fly-fishing on the Delger River, fishing from 5 to 8 miles a day drifting from pool to pool, and wade fishing the best fly water. Some of the best water and biggest fish,are found on the inaccessible canyon sections with a high frequency of rapids, boulder gardens and cliff pools. Camping in tents.
Day 8: Arrive at the take-out, where Fly Fish Mongolia will have a couple of gers set up, complete with cot beds and a wood-stove.
Day 9: Drive out to Muron for the return flight to Ulaanbaatar
Day 10: Fly home.

Complete Trip Details

“We put into the Delger some 30 miles from Mongolia’s border with Siberia and floated a 60 mile section over a week, camping in yurt (or “ger” in local parlance) camps on the first and last evening, and in tents in between. The inflatable rafts with custom built frames, similar to those used on Western rivers in the US, served the purpose very well, carrying two anglers and a guide, in surprising comfort. We fished from the boats as we drifted as well as stopping in promising pools and wade fishing.” TG