Tengis & Shishged River Expedition

The Yenisei River is the world’s fifth-longest and largest system feeding into the Arctic Ocean. While it has many headwaters, the Tengis and Shishged systems in the remote reaches of northern Mongolia’s Khuvsgul Province are unique and home to some of the world’s largest taimen. This program, designed by the local experts at Mongolia Adventure Outfitters and Taimen Lodge, is for true adventure anglers who want to experience Mongolia on their own terms. Guests will experience a long, interesting, and somewhat arduous off-road overland transfer through a range of spectacular landscapes. Once the Shishged is reached, guests will fish two distinct and remarkable systems with the help of local guides.

HIGHLIGHTS

This program has two distinct elements. First will be the time spent upstream on the Tengis. The camp is located roughly 1 ½ hour upstream of the confluence and is accessed by a rigorous and exciting journey up in inflatable tunnel-hulled jetboats. The Tengis is a beautiful midsized clear river and a major tributary of the Shishged. Aside from its lower reaches, it is hard to access and rarely visited by other anglers. It holds good numbers of smaller taimen as well as lenok and grayling. Trout fishing is very good and will be the primary focus on during this part of the trip.

After time on the Tengis, anglers will move downstream to the larger Shishged. Once at the Shishged, there will be a greater focus on taimen fishing, but the trout fishing will still be exceptional and we hope that guests will dedicate time each day to focus on this remarkable opportunity. The taimen fishing is very well suited to spey anglers, but also good for single-hand anglers. Fishing will be done with a combination of floating and sinking lines; flies can tend to run quite large, so guests should come ready for this challenge. Wading on the Shishged is challenging in many spots and best suited to anglers who are good on their feet. Guests will fish two per jet boat with a combination of American and Mongolian guides and at times may be accompanied by a junior guide in training. Your guides might have you focus on taimen fishing much of the day but they might also have you shift into trout mode depending on location, time of day, and or conditions.

Taimen fishing is tricky, and guests will not typically catch taimen each day. While many taimens are in the 28 to 32-inch class, the Shishged holds good numbers of very large taimen in the 40 to 55-inch class. These are thick impressive fish and they tend to have lots of current to work with. Some of the fishing is quite close to camp but there are a number of prime beats that take longer to reach and are best suited to adventuresome anglers.