Taimen is a great rival to any angler. The old men called him the king fish. And it is not surprising, because taimen can weigh up to 50 kilograms. You can take it out for more than one hour. Only an experienced fisherman can get taimen. The length of a taimen can be up to a meter, although a one-year-old taimen is only 12 cm long. To catch a taimen you need the best and strongest equipment.
When to catch taimen?
When the ice drifts, the taimen goes to spawn in small, clean and quiet rivers. The water at this time is icy, only 10 degrees. When the taimen spawns, it returns somewhere in the end of May. After spawning, the fish begins to actively feed, which means they can be caught, until about mid-July. In the summer heat, the taimen becomes lazy. When the water starts to cool down and the first frosts come, our fish starts to be active again.
Bait for taimen
You can catch this fish on a donk, a post, a girder, provided that we fish with natural baits. Again, you can fish with spinning, but it should be borne in mind that taimen is a very strong fish and tackle must be selected suitable. We take spoons: spoons and spinning ones. It would be an ideal option – to take spoons of different weight and size. Be sure to have a large supply of fishing line or braided cord. They cannot be too thin, and the point is not that you will catch a large fish, it may just happen that you need to forcefully play. On some rivers, taimen is caught with silicone rippers, it is excellent for surface baits. If we fly fishing, then most likely we will catch our prey with a mouse. Taimen is excellently caught with live bait.
Where to fish?
Taimen should be looked for in places where there are large holes, where there are temperature changes, for example, when a stream flows into a river. Taimen is a rare fish, one might say an endangered species, and there are places where fishing for taimen is prohibited.
Taimen is a predatory fish and therefore you need to look for it where grayling and whitefish are found (they can be used as live bait). It is also found near rapids or in places where there are large drops in the bottom. They live in pairs, and if you have already caught one, do not rush to leave this place. Favorite bait of taimen: live bait, bait, mouse and wobbler, and if we fish at depth, then we need heavy spoons, size about 12 cm. It is best to use a mouse to catch taimen at night.
If we choose a spinning rod for fishing taimen, then we need a two-handed rod with a length of more than 3.5 meters. The reel should be large so that there is a lot of cord on it, it is best to use a spinning reel. Otherwise, you can seriously injure your hands when jerking the fish. The fishing line or braid should be at least 0.7 mm in diameter and quite long so that you can wear out the trout when playing. If using a braid, it must be able to support more than 30 kg. The hooks should be strong, like for sea fishing, because the jaws of the taimen are very powerful.
Taimen is found in Yakutia, Altai, in the Caucasus it happens in Baikal. Taimen is listed in the regional red book. This fish is large in size, it is better to release, because it spawns better.