Articulated Flies (variants of String Leeches)

 String Leech (Articulated leech) was invented in American North-West for catching steelhead.  The idea to separate heavy head and the hook by a piece of string allows creating big, but very lightweight fly.  The short shank hooks hold the fish better than the ones with long shank. 

In 2000, when I had started to fit keys to Siberian taimen, I began working on the idea of the String Leech.  I wanted to create a fly which will move with the hook upright, and will be easier to cast comparing with "classic" leeches made of marabou feathers.  Articulated taimen flies are made on "bases" of different types.     

To most of my articulated flies I am adding "feelers" made of ostrich plumes.  They are always tied on top and on the sides of the fly (not on its belly side).  This helps to direct the hook of the fly up, so it is snagging logs and rocks not as often.  Articulated flies with elements of ostrich are becoming similar to Intruders; I am calling such flies "Squid" or Giant Squid".  

In most cases Siberian taimen is caught with dark flies

 Red-and-Black Squid: these colors are among the best for both Siberian and sea-run (Sakhalin) taimen.  They are also attractive for salmon (chum, cherry, chinook, and coho) and white-spotted charr.

 Artificial Zonker has 2 rabbit strips - one at the hook, and another at the weighted head of the fly.  This fly has hook tip directed down.  

 Two bunches of bucktail tied to "articulated base" make excellent fly for sea-run taimen. 

To be continued (materials from the book "Fly Fishing the Russian Far East")

Trip to the Yudoma & Urak Rivers near Okhotsk (Lena R. drainage) - Part 2

This self-made mouse imitation is a typical lure for taimen, used by Siberian fishermen

Our team have passed the falls of the Yudoma River

In this area the river is divided by the rocks into several channels.  The total drop of the falls is over 3 meters.  In the holes between the falls our spinn-fishermen have landed several taimen up to 18 kg.    

The second boat with a team of 3 is passing one of the drops.  There is a deep foam "barrel" below it.   

Telgi River is one of the tributaries of the Yudoma R.  In most places it is swift & shallow. 

In the lower part of the Telgi River we have found lots of good size lenok.  This fish belongs to the sharp-nose species of lenok.   

Numerous lakes of the Yudoma River valley are populated by roach, Northern pike and good size perch.  This perch had bitted a black Intruder.   

Northern pike was very numerous in some lakes and slow, deep channels. 

After 3 days of rainy & foggy weather we have finally heared the sound of coming helicopter. 

Urak River is waiting for us!

To be continued...

Trip to the Yudoma & Urak Rivers near Okhotsk (Lena R. drainage) - Part 1

Yudoma River is situated in the north of the Khabarovsk region, at the border with Sakha-Yakutia Republik.  The stream is over 800 km long; it begins from the glaciers of the highest area of the Suntar Khayata mountain ridge.  We had come to Okhotsk by 3.5 hour domestic flight (AN-24 plane) from Khabarovsk.  The idea was to float & fish the rivers of both the north & south slopes of the Arctic-Pacific divide.  The first leg of the route was 1.5 hour MI-8 helicopter fligh from Okhotsk.

Out of the chopper you see mostly mountains.  This territory is almost uninhabited by humans.  The highest point of the Suntar-Khayata Ridge is Mus-Khaya mtn (2995 m).  This is one of glaciated areas of the Russian Far East.  Image - Arka River, trobutary to the Okhota R. 

Helicopter is leaving, and the group stays with a pile of equipment at vast gravel bar of the Yudona River.

 

The broad valley of the Yudoma River has numerous lakes - they number 5,000! 

Most of them were never fished. 

Far from the river the larch forest looks "oppressed" due to the wet soil, permafrost, and harsh climate.

The water of the Yudoma was a little milky because of the runoff from the glaciers.

"The Yudoma Gates" is the most spectacular area of the whole river

We were moving downstream with 2 rubber rafts. 

In most places the river is not complicated and could be rated 2. 

There is only one area with serious falls (see Part 2).

On the second morning I had managed to land a little Siberian taimen. 

The fish had bitted a large "articulated" streamer. 

To be continued...

Yudoma River

Yudoma is a big river – it is 820 km long. Yudoma is the biggest tributary of the Maya River, which flows into Aldan. Aldan belongs to the Lena R. drainege. The name "Yudoma"comes from the word “edoma” which means “steep bank with deposits of ancient ice”. Exactly in the layers of this type of soils the frozen carcasses of wooly mammoth and other extinct animals were found.

Middle reaches of the yudoma River

Yudoma is very diverse: it has complicated falls (rated at least III), short canyon stretches, areas with “braids”, long deep pools with sandy bottom and slow current. The most interesting stretch of the river is 150 km from the Yudoma Gates (small spectacular canyon) to the Dikiy (Wild) Falls. The only way to get to the river is helicopter charter from Okhotsk. The upper part of the drainage is not populated. Here there are only some native Even reindeer herders. The river valley has about 5000 lakes.

Unloaded helicopter comes up, and the group is left on the gravel bar on small pile of gear

"The Gates" - the most spectacular part of the river "Braided" area with numerous channels "Wild Falls"

Fishermen go through the "Wild Falls"

The river has typical fish fauna of mountainous Siberian streams: taimen, sharp-nose lenok, Arctic grayling, whitefish, and burbot. Numerous lakes of the wide valley of the Yudoma host Northern pike, yellow perch, and roach. The fish density in the main river channel in summer is rather low - most of Salmonids spend warm part of the year in tributaries.

This little taimen was landed with "Articulated Streamer" Sharp-nose lenok from the Telgi River, tributary to Yudoma

Northern pike is numerous in slow backwaters, and can be caught in the main stream as well

Trophy yellow perch was found only on some lakes

Sea-run taimen caught in the north-eastern part of the Sakhalin Island with "String Leach"

Most often I am fishing for Sakhalin taimen with two-handed rod equipped with a floating spey-line with a sink tip 3,5 – 5 meters long. On deep and swift places it is easier to use the full-sinking line. Fishing for all taimen species requires use of big flies.

Koppi River at the mainland coast of the Sea of Japan hosts healthy stock of Sakhalin taimen

Sakhalin taimen habitats in rivers are similar to the ones used by Siberian taimen or trophy brown trout. The best areas to catch this fish are the pockets just below the riffles with depths of 1,2-2 meters, swift current on the surface and slow - near the bottom.

Small sea-run taimen caught with tube-fly

If you want to catch trophy fish, use the biggest flies you can cast. Your lure will never be too big for the predator, feeding on adult salmon. In the Koppi River most of taimen were landed with long, dark flies. The best color will be black, dark brown, or red-and-black. Try big black lamprey imitations up to 20 cm long, or the biggest “Wooly Buggers” on the # 3/0 hooks. Nobody knows why Sakhalin taimen is seriously partial to bucktail. One of the simplest and attractive lures for this fish will be a heavy 2-inch copper or brass tube with a bunch of long black and red bucktail with some strands of Crystal Flash. Another good taimen fly is Intruder, tied in dark colors – black, crimson, and brown.

Black "String Leech" in biggest sizes is one of the best flies for all taimen species

Taimen grow rather slow; it will reach maturity by the length of around 75 cm. This is why the majority of fish in the catches of sport-fishermen are immature. This fish can have very long life span and reach gigantic size. The biggest, 210 cm long (!) specimen was caught in one of the rivers of Japan in 1937. It is a big pity that nowadays because of overfishing “marine” taimen is becoming rare or disappearing throughout the whole range. In many waters this species has disappeared completely. Its numbers have drastically decreased in the rivers of the southern Kuril Islands (Kunashir and Iturup). At the Sakhalin Island the stocks are listed as endangered. On the mainland coast of the Sea of Japan the species is almost extinct in the south of the range. Several quite numerous stocks remain in the north of its former range, in the rivers Tumnin, Koppi and Samarga, and in several smaller drainages. The biggest river with taimen is Tumnin. In Japan this fish is still present in some of the streams of the Hokkaido Island. For its rareness it is called here “ghost-fish”. In Hokkaido it is now quite small; even a 8-9 kg fish is very rare. If you will be lucky to catch this rare fish, please, release it!

85 cm long fish landed in the north-east of the Sakhalin Island