Lower River Expeditions

An adventure designed for those of us who don’t mind a bit of roughing it… in style

We run a few very special expeditions each year to fish the lowest stretch of the taimen sanctuary.

A team of Mongolia River Outfitters and WWF-Mongolia wildlife conservation professionals completed the first descent down this part of the river many, many years ago.  What we found was astounding.  The lower river is one of those amazing places where many ecosystems come together.  Here are some of the most diverse and intact grasslands of Mongolia surrounded by birch, pine and larch forested mountains.  This is a wild landscape shared by Mongolian gazelle, red deer, moose, roe deer, Siberian boar, bear, and wolves.  In the autumn, we regularly hear elk bugling and wolves howling. 

We also found a whole lot of big taimen.  The fly fishing for taimen, trout, lenok and pike is outstanding. 

The isolation of the lower stretch means that most years we stay in Nordic tipi camps.  Each large tipi has two cots and offers plenty of space for your gear and to move around inside. There’s a large, insulated wall tent with a wood-burning stove for meals and to get out of the weather.  However, on many of these Lower Expeditions we tend to eat outside to enjoy the sounds of the river and the incredible Mongolian sky.  All the camps have a shower tent with a wood burning stove.  You can see photos and read more about the meals and camps here.

There are only a handful of families who live in this isolated area.  However, this is very much the home water of one of our guides.  Zolboo’s grandmother’s ger is just upstream from one of our camps.

The trip is supported by an experienced team of cooks, camp staff and guides.  As with all trips, we fish from guided Clackacraft drift boats.  Every day while we are fishing a new stretch of river, the camp staff moves all our equipment and camp gear downstream with very large rafts.  You will be impressed by the spirit and efficiency of the Mongolian navy!

The river is a bit wider down here with a couple of tributaries coming in from the north.  The river frequently braids up into a myriad of channels sometimes giving it a small stream feel.  The river also tends to spread out, creating big buckets and seams for taimen.  There are massive cliffs where hungry taimen lurk, waiting in pools for unfortunate rodents to slip and tumble into the water.  The back sloughs down here are a haven for big Amur pike.

This is a great choice if you enjoy expeditions and want a chance to chase big fish in a very remote environment.  The Lower Expeditions are an amazing adventure to a place very, very few people ever get to experience.

Please send us an email or call to chat about all the details.