When Salmon are about to spawn (usually when they are fat and dumb enough for me to catch them) they look much different than their ocean stage. I vaguely remember having a vat (if you will) of baby salmon in the hallwayof the old Lakeside middle school building, where we would study and watch them progress from fry to smolt stage. Anyway right now is the end of Humpy
Season (Pink salmon)
and Coho are running now as well on the inside of Vancouver Island this year as opposed to the outside. Apparently Pinks are the dumbest of the salmon species having a weaker navigational sense and weaker homing instinct, so they often don't spawn in their native stream. This is why they are easy to catch. They practically jump in the boat if you have a Humpy special on your line! You can catch Chinook (King) year round,
but the best chance is usually mid July/August, and in Alaska, but it depends if they are heading to Alaska or spawning in coastal streams. The Sockeye (pictured right) return home from July to October, and you can also find them off the coasts of Japan, and
usually near streams that are connected to Lakes, as that is where the frys develop.But who wants to go fishing in the San Juans when you can go fishing in Mongolia for Salmon three times the size of the current run of Humpies. I also just want to Mongolia it up REAL BAD. Any takers? I'll plan a trip through Ulanbataar! Who wouldn't want to drink Yak liquor in a yurt on the Steppes, gosh! AND ride mini ponies (aka my size)
This could be you (AND ME!!!!)
Check out the cute pony in the back!Take a look at these Goliaths of Asia's interior:
These Freakishly large Russian Salmon, called Taimen, easily reach 100lbs, and usually live for well more than 50 years. There is a hilarious Mongolian legend about this Taimen that got frozen in the ice flow of a river and the hungry Mongolians would occasionally hack pieces of it off during the winter to eat, and come spring when the river thawed, it simply swam away. These babies get BIG.
The Mongoli
ans call the Taimen 'River Wolf' because they are an exceptionally aggressive predator, eating ducks, rodents, fish and prairie dogs.These guys have been known to jump out of the water and eat gophers straight from the banks of the rivers. That's right, everybody's lovable Caddy Shack miscreant is the delightful dinner treat of the Taimen. Nothing is more exciting than fishing for a beast that could easily mistake my leg for a swimming rodent. Seeing as how these beasties are bigger than I am, death by flying Taimen is entirely plausible, possible, and in fact, probable.
Oh, and did I mention they don't really have many pain receptors, so flying at your head at 30 mph means nothing to them.
To catch these Leviathans, something called a Chernobyl Gopher is used. Sounds ominous and radioactive- probably both. They also use something called a mouse. It doesn't take much imagination to suspect that it is a real mouse hooked on the end of your fly rod. The best time to fish for them is right meow, I mean now.
Who wants to go??? I wonder if I can count the Taimen on my list of Lvl 2 Carnivores, in my pursuit to become a Lvl 2 carnivore--only eat meats that eat other meats.