Fishing the Orkhon

During a two-day work trip I took an early lunch time break on the way from Erdenet to Darkhan, to see if I could get in one last bit of fishing in Mongolia before the rivers were complete frozen over.

Most rivers were entirely capped with thick ice. We decided to try our luck at one river that had a good reputation for fishing--our clue came from the highway side store that had smoked lenok12 to 18 inches in length caught in the river that was less than 500 meters away.

The driver and I left the A1001 highway turning North on the road to Sant, and drove fifteen minutes along the West side of the Orkhon River (near the town of Orkhon), Mongolia. The vegetation was frosted with glittering ice that sparkled like diamonds. We then went off-roading westerly to the river, and luckily found a spot the size of five ping-pong tables that was not ice covered (was this an upwelling spring area, or was it the rocks' color/albedo?) At 10:15 A.M. local time the air temperature was -17 Centigrade and winds were zero to 3 km/h in a northerly direction. The water was flowing at a good rate, with vapor streaming up from the water. I fished a size 16 Copper John, with a type III sinking leader. My first three casts were good (thanks, Fritz, for the tutelage), and then the line began stiffening, the guides fouling with ice and then the leader developed a two mm thick uniform coating of solid ice. I gently squeezed the ice in the guides, which worked for all but a marble's worth in the top guide. That I cracked with my teeth. I freed the leader from its sheath of ice, and then cast for five minutes, and then repeated the de-icing. I got my nymph in the riffle, and even got it to set in the deeper pockets. No nibbles but it was satisfying nonetheless. Fly fishing with the fly, leader, line and guides icing up was interesting. The area was quiet, sparkly white, and calming. We departed with a renewed love of the Mongolian countryside, and I was recharged, ready for more work.

I had wanted as much to test my gear as to fish in this beautiful area. Luckily there was mostly no wind, with occasional fluttering, meaning no windchill to accelerate frostbite. Other than the intense pain my fingers experienced (half-finger gloves did not provide relief; I had to resort to silk black glove liners inside my sky gloves), with only mild to moderate exertion I was comfortable. I had suited up with tech underwear under midweight wool base layer under fleece wader pants under fly weight stocking foot waders with my brand new Orvis ultralight wading boots that have Korker's OmniTrax interchangeable soles; the Vibram pattern worked well enough, the studs worked fine, the "flexing sticky rubber" does not flex nor stick at sub zero temperatures. I had layered up my upper half, too, with the outermost being a Goretex jacket and a wool cap.