Six Days, Big Flies and a Douglas Sky G
By: Mark Benson
I like to cast. Give me a good fly rod, some open water, and a little room, and I’m probably going to see how far I can throw it. After more than thirty years of teaching fly casting and some time competing in distance events, that habit comes pretty naturally. Six days of fishing for taimen in Mongolia gave me plenty of opportunity to indulge it, along with a few reminders about when to hold back.
Our group fished the Uur River out of Sweetwater Travel’s North Camp. It was big, beautiful country, with plenty of water to tempt a distance caster. The fish were reason enough to travel halfway around the world. Getting a large fly in front of one, day after day, was its own education.
My outfit was a 9-weight Douglas Sky G paired with a Lamson Litespeed reel, a RIO Outbound floating line, and a five-foot leader of 40-pound mono. At the business end was a large floating fly tied on a 5/0 hook. This was a long way from presenting a size 18 dry fly to a rising trout.
Moving those big flies through the air required consistent double hauling, and the Sky G handled that work beautifully. Its fast action suits my casting style. Matched with the RIO Outbound line, it let me build the line speed needed to carry the fly without feeling like I had to muscle every cast. Over a full day of fishing, that made a difference.
The casting principles I teach back home, Path, Power, Pause, traveled well. Control the rod-tip path, apply power smoothly, and give the line and fly time to finish traveling before changing direction. Add a well-timed double haul, and the whole outfit works together. Rush it, and a big fly makes your mistake pretty obvious. It also gives you a good reason to keep unnecessary false casting to a minimum.
Strikes were few and far between. The challenge was to keep casting and give the next presentation the same attention as the first, even after hours without a fish.
On the wall in the lodge’s main room hung the Taimen Fly Fisherman’s Oath. Number three was “I will never ever get tired.” Number six was “I will never stop casting.” Those two stayed with me. It’s easy to agree with them over coffee. A few days and a few hundred casts later, it becomes more of a commitment.
I appreciated the lightness of the Sky G during those long stretches. It was comfortable to cast, and that helped me stay physically and mentally in the game. The rod made the casting easier. The taimen made me earn the patience. Having an outfit I enjoyed casting gave me one more reason to keep the fly moving.
Even with the right outfit, more distance wasn’t always the answer. You still have to manage the line, fish the fly, and be ready for a strike. Extra line doesn’t help if it costs you control or leaves you poorly connected to the fly.
One of my taimen came from a shallow inside bend. It was a useful reminder to pay attention to the water close by instead of always looking for a reason to make a longer cast.
I made a long cast downstream, quartering across the current, with the fly swinging across a mid-river depression. My first sight of a taimen was halfway through its launch. It rocketed out of the water and dove down onto my skating fly. The line came tight. I strip-set, and the hard pulls that followed reminded me of a large black drum, with those heavy, head-shaking surges made stronger by the current. This was going to be a fight.
Once a taimen was hooked, the Sky G had a different job to do. They are the world’s largest salmonid, and a fish over forty inches in strong current gives you plenty to think about. You’re dealing with the power of the fish and the river. You need enough backbone in the rod to lift, apply pressure, and maintain control.
The Sky G never felt outmatched. Even with the largest fish I fought, I felt I had the power I needed without being on the edge of control. For a rod whose lightness I appreciated through hours of casting, it had plenty in reserve when the work shifted to fighting a fish.
I came home from Mongolia still loving a long cast, but what I appreciated most about that outfit was how well it handled the whole job. I could keep casting comfortably through the quiet hours and feel confident in the rod when a fish finally put a bend in it.
I brought the Sky G because I liked the way it cast. I came home trusting it for a lot more than that…
