Taimen fish

Description of the species

Taimen, Siberian taimen or common taimen (Hucho taimen) - belongs to the genus of taimen of the salmon family (Salmonidae) and is its largest representative.

The taimen genus includes several species:

Common taimen, or taimen (Hucho taimen)
Danube taimen (Hucho hucho)
Korean taimen (Hucho ishikawae)
Sichuan taimen (Hucho bleekeri)
Mityagin taimen (Hucho Mityagin)
Sakhalin taimen (Hucho perryi)

You can find several names for taimen: Siberian taimen, Siberian giant trout, talmen, krasulya, laziness. Local residents sometimes use the name red pike, since before the spawning period in the spring, adult taimen add bright copper-red and orange colors to their color.

As a result of studies of the structure of the genotype, scientists came to the conclusion that taimen is one of the oldest salmon fish, which is more than 40 million years old on Earth. A close family relationship has been established between freshwater taimen and Pacific salmon of the genus Oncorhynchus and noble Pacific salmon of the genus Parasalmo.

Common taimen is distinguished by its maximum size and weight among all salmon. It does not have a hypo-osmotic mechanism that allows it to remain in salty sea water, so taimen leads an exclusively freshwater lifestyle.

Appearance

Torso

Taimen has a slender, elongated, elongated body, similar to trout. The body shape provides excellent streamlining and fast movement even in stormy mountain rivers with rapid currents.

On the outside, taimen is covered with small scales that have a greenish or brownish color on the ridge and along it, a silver color with black spots on the sides of the fish, and the belly is light gray, almost white. The body color of taimen may vary slightly, depending on living conditions.

Taimen change color during spawning, taking on more copper and orange hues. After spawning, the previous color gradually returns. Young fish that have not reached puberty have transverse dark stripes.

The scales are small, located up to 150 pieces in the lateral line, have a clear oval shape without grooves or rings.

Head

The head of the taimen is large, long, slightly flattened from top to bottom, resembling the head of a pike in shape. The color of the head is dark, covered with numerous black spots of a round or cross shape.

The mouth is wide, located across the entire width of the head and can swing open almost to the gill slits. In adult fish, the upper jaw reaches the level of the posterior edge of the eye. The teeth are curved inwards, arranged in the shape of a horseshoe and grow on the upper and lower jaws in several rows.

The gills consist of 9-18 gill slits, most often 11-13.

Fins

The fins of taimen are wide and powerful, characteristically shifted towards the tail and vary in color:

dorsal - dark gray,
abdominal and chest - light gray,
caudal and anal - red.

Taimen has a well-defined adipose fin.

What kind of fish is taimen?

The genus-forming taxa is the Siberian or common taimen (Hucho taimen), which is also known by the common nicknames “krasulya”, “laziness”, “talmen”. It is characterized by the largest dimensions among all salmon and the complete absence of the hypoosmotic mechanism necessary for a safe stay at sea. In addition to the ordinary one, experts distinguish Korean (Ishikawae), Sichuan (Bleekeri) and Mityagin forms. Another famous representative of the genus is the Danube salmon (Hucho hucho).

The species is one of the largest freshwater predators and, under optimal conditions, can live for more than 60 years. In standard catches, young 6-7 year old individuals (55-70 cm) weighing 3.5-5 kg prevail. Adult fish grow faster; meter-long ten-year-olds have a mass of 12 kg. At 20 years of age, the length of the predator is 120-125 cm (25-30 kg). But these figures are far from the maximum - the largest taimen weighed 105 kg with a height of 210 cm (1943, Kotui River, Krasnoyarsk Territory).

Appearance description

The slender and elongated shape of the body has much in common with the structure of trout and has ideal streamlining parameters that contribute to rapid movement in the water. Other features of the appearance of taimen include:

fins shifted towards the tail;
large flattened head;
small scales (140-150 in the lateral line);
a huge terminal mouth with sharp teeth curved inward (two rows);
11-13 gill rakers;
dark gray (dorsal), light ash (ventral, pectoral) and red (anal, caudal) fins.

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Ide: description of fish, habitat and lifestyle

The permanent color of the Krasula is represented by a greenish or brownish ridge and silvery sides with black spots. During spawning, the body turns copper, orange or red. Immature young animals are characterized by the presence of dark transverse stripes.

Where is the taimen fish found?

In Russia, the main range is represented by rivers, tributaries and cold-water lakes of Central, Western, Eastern Siberia and the basins of the Laptev, Okhotsk, Japanese and Kara seas. Taimen lives in the Lena, Yenisei, Angara, and Oka. It is found in the Urals (Kama, Pechora), Khakassia (Abakan), Altai Territory (Biya, Katun), in the Far East and Transbaikalia (Amur, Tunguska, Yana, Shilka, Vitim, Onon). Krasulya does not bypass Sakhalin (Langry, Bolshoy Chingai, Pogibi, Noyida), it is found in the rivers of the Primorsky Territory that flow into the marginal waters of the Pacific Ocean (Margaritovka, Milogradovka, Avvakumovka).

Dimensions

Taimen is the largest salmon in the world, surpassing all other species, even North American salmon. On average, the length of an adult taimen is 70-120 cm, weight - 15-30 kg. Individuals weighing 60-80 kg and reaching a length of 150-180 cm are considered especially large. Taimen grow to this size in no less than fifty years.

In 1943, the largest specimen of taimen was caught on the Kotui River in the Krasnoyarsk Territory in Russia, its length was 210 cm and its weight was 105 kg. This is now the maximum recorded size of taimen. The International Fishing Association officially records the maximum size of taimen as 156 cm and weight 41.95 kg.

At the age of 6-7 years, individuals reach maturity, growing to 50-60 cm, their weight is about 4 kg. Further, the increase in body length and weight is faster: by the age of ten, taimen grow on average to one meter and weigh more than 10-12 kg, at twenty years the weight is 25-30 kg, length - 115-120 cm.

Description

What does taimen look like?

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The taimen fish has a narrow, elongated body with a flattened head on the sides and top. When examining the area of the fish's head from above, multiple inclusions of black color become noticeable. The same spots can be seen on the sides of taimen. In shape, the spots are X-shaped or completely round.

The taimen fish is characterized by small, silver-colored scales. This feature is found in most predatory fish. Also, this fish has a powerful mouth that stretches along the entire width of its head. The taimen's mouth opens so much that the gill slits can be seen. This genus has large, sharp teeth. They are arranged in several rows and are rounded inward at the ends.

The purity of the color of taimen mainly depends on the favorable conditions in its habitat. The color of the body can be greenish-gray, and also colored in shades of red and brown.

By the way, the color can change dramatically during the spawning period, however, upon completion of spawning, the usual color will return. Young individuals are characterized by multiple stripes that cross the body.

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The fins of taimen are colored separately. The pectoral and dorsal fins are painted gray, and the caudal and anal fins are painted red. Thanks to this taimen in the Urals they were given another name: “Red Pike”. Because the shape of its head in structure resembles the head of a pike, and at the end of the body there is a red color. You can notice this in the photo of taimen attached below.

Total weight and size of fish

Ichthyologists classify taimen as the largest genus of fish among the salmon family. This fish increases in size relative to the years it lives. Therefore, the older the taimen, the larger it will be.

For example, young individuals six years old stretch up to 70 cm and weigh 6-7 kg. On average, an adult 20 years old weighs about 60 kg from birth and reaches one and a half meters in length.

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Humanity knows of encounters between fishermen and two-meter-long taimen. For example. The largest taimen was caught in 1944 - its body length was 210 cm and its weight was 103 kg. Ichthyologists claim that the size of taimen largely depends on the favorable conditions.

There are stories that in the old days, even three-meter-long specimens were caught. Unfortunately, no official information has been preserved. Moreover, nowadays you can no longer find such individuals.

Lifestyle

The Siberian taimen lives only in fresh water, preferring rivers and streams with fast currents and rich in oxygen. It is found in sections of rivers near their confluence with the sea, and in mountain rivers at an altitude of 1500 meters. It actively moves up and down the current; the area of residence of one individual can reach hundreds of kilometers.

During spawning, taimen moves upstream of rivers to small tributaries, laying eggs there, can remain during the summer in small tributaries, and in the fall returns back to larger sections of rivers, where they remain throughout the fall, winter and spring.

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Taimen is a cold-loving fish species; its greatest activity during the year occurs in early summer after spawning. In summer, when the water warms up, taimen activity decreases. At this time, teeth change, which is very painful for fish. At the end of August, taimen gradually become more active and feed intensively until the first ice, after which a winter rest period begins.

He prefers to stay in areas of rivers and reservoirs where there are deep holes near the shore. In winter, it spends most of its time in deep areas, only occasionally rising closer to the surface, where the water is more saturated with oxygen.

During the day, taimen stays in more shaded areas, and at night it moves out into open areas with fast currents. It feeds mainly early in the morning on small fish on the rifts. Juveniles do not yet have their own territory; they are most often found in the middle of a fast flow of water, where they hunt invertebrates and fry.

Adults usually keep their personal territory: most often these are deep coastal holes, holes on rapids and waterfalls, at the confluence of tributaries, downstream behind large stones and rocks. They leave them only for feeding time, after which they return to their place again.

Leonid Pavlovich Sabaneev

Rice. 71. Fig. 72. Path (top and side).

Laziness is caught in the Urals using a fishing rod and the so-called. path. Talmen doesn’t take fishing rods and lures every year; The bait is either small roach, or three worms are put on a hook, but the best bait for this fish is a frog, which is a big hunter. Its bite is not particularly reliable, and it does not swallow well, so it often breaks loose, but if it is caught, it causes a lot of trouble; large talmens always break the string and are never caught by the fisherman. In winter, they catch talmen using lures from ice holes and girders.

The most interesting and original fishing for tallmen, however, is fishing on the track. The Northern Ural track is somewhat reminiscent of an ordinary spoon, but it also has some differences. It consists of a 2-4-inch iron, less often a copper plate with a slight bend at the front end, where a small hole is drilled; a hook is soldered on the other end and a piece of red cloth or other material is tied. Preparing a good track, despite its simplicity, however, requires great skill: with an incorrect center of gravity, it does not float horizontally flat, hooked down, but somewhat obliquely and oscillates incorrectly - it plays; therefore, a good path is valued very dearly by fishermen, and the lucky owner of one will not sell it for even a few rubles. The actual fishing is always done in a boat, while moving, since only then the path, turning from side to side, takes on some semblance of fish. A long and strong twine, up to 10 fathoms or more, is threaded into the front hole of the path, depending, however, on the speed of the current, since it is necessary that it floats no deeper than an arshin. The fisherman sits in the stern and rows quietly and steadily, gradually lowering the rope; then, having etched it to the proper length, he grabs the end with his teeth and places it behind the ear. Carefully, barely moving the oar, he sails past the barrels and steep yars; The string vibrates regularly, transmitting its vibration to the ear - a sure sign that the track is playing as it should. Talmen, seeing her, rushes with an arrow, grabs her from the run and mostly cuts himself off. It happens that a large fish stops the floating shuttle and tears the string out of its teeth or breaks it off. In addition, the tackle often breaks off, especially if the hook only catches it on the lip; but this is a small problem: it’s worth driving through the same place again, and 6bit can be confident, of course, with a good bite, that he will once again rush to the bait. The most successful fishing on the track is in the mornings and evenings, at the end of summer and in the fall in low water. In all likelihood, the talmen can be caught using the methods used for fishing salmon, even with greater success, since it is less careful. More than once I watched him grab insects falling on the water.

In the Verkhoturye district of the Perm province, talmen are caught in the winter, like pike, in a way reminiscent of the Volga fools or winter zherlitsy, which will be described below (see “Pike”). This fishing, called hooking [10], begins in November as soon as the Ural rivers are covered with sufficiently strong ice, but most native fishermen prefer to hook at the end of January or early February, after severe Christmas and Epiphany frosts, since it is most convenient to fish in warm and clear conditions. weather. But even before, before the waters freeze, fishermen stock up on “live”, that is, live bait - dace, roach (roach), and, in extreme cases, small perch, which are kept all winter in perforated boxes, immersed with the help of stones in deep places. When going fishing, the fisherman takes with him 2-4 dozen “bellies” (in a beetroot or some kind of closed wooden vessel), hooks, small hay dust in a bag and an ice pick with a shovel. They try not to freeze the “belly” and therefore wrap the vessel in something warm and, upon arrival at the place, immediately press down the so-called. icebox (a small hole in the ice, at the bottom of which a small hole is made - about an inch in diameter - for free access of fresh water) - where the fish is lowered, making sure that the icebox does not become covered with ice. Then, immediately in the kuryas, i.e. pits, they make 5-10 holes with a diameter of 6 to 8 inches, cylindrical in shape with rounded lower edges, so that the caught fish cannot cut the lace. The small ice taken from the ice hole is raked into a pyramidal pile, into which a thin flexible rod up to two quarters long is stuck at an angle of 45° to the surface of the water, so that the exposed end is no more than a quarter and, bent when biting, does not touch the opposite edge of the ice hole; if the time is warm and the twig does not stay in a pile, then use a split wooden die, inserting the twig into the split.

Distribution area

Siberian taimen is found in almost all rivers of Siberia, in Asia and Europe in Russia, China, Mongolia in rivers and reservoirs of the Arctic and Caspian basins.

The largest part of the taimen's range is located in:

Russia - 83.8% of the total,
China - 6.4% of the total,
Kazakhstan - 6.1% of the total,
Mongolia - 3.7% of the total.

Taimen is found in rivers such as the Ural, Lena, Yenisei, Angara, Pechora. The western border of the natural distribution of taimen is limited by the upper reaches of the Pechora, Kama, and Vyatka rivers. Taimen is found not only in the main channel of the Pechora, but also in its numerous tributaries: Ilych, Kosiu, Usa, Shchugor and others.

In the European part, taimen is found in the Kama River and its tributaries, the Vishera River. In the Udmurd Republic, it lives in the Shiva River and in the area of the Votkono Reservoir, in the Khabarovsk Territory - in the Amur River and its tributaries, in the Tugur and Uda rivers near the Sea of Okhotsk, in the Ussuri and Sungari basins, in Lake Baikal, Lake Zaisan and Teletskoye. In the Transbakal region - in the rivers - Amur, Yana, Shilka, Tunguska, Vitim; in the Altai Territory - in the Biya and Katun rivers.

Found on the Chukotka Peninsula; in the Langry, Pogibi, Nyida and Bolshoi Chingai rivers of Sakhalin Island; in rivers, tributaries and lakes of the sea basins: Japanese, Okhotsk, Laptev, Kara.

In Mongolia, taimen lives in the Selenga River and its tributaries, in the reservoirs of the Darkhat depression, which belongs to the Arctic basin, and the Khubsugul region, in the rivers Kerulen, Shishkhed, Delger Moron, Eg, Ider, Tuul, Orkhon, Ero, Chuluud, Uur, Onon, and the upper reaches the Khalkhin and Kherlen rivers flowing into the Amur.

What does taimen eat?

The taimen is capable of feeding almost all year round, but there is still a cyclical nature in its life. The taimen takes a break for the spawning period, after which the most active feeding period begins, called the zhora period. It does not last long, followed by a summer period of relative rest, when the summer heat sets in and the taimen stays in deep shady holes and is passive.

With the onset of August and a decrease in water temperature in the rivers, the second period of zhora begins. Taimen begins to actively feed in order to form a significant layer of fat for the winter and stock up on the necessary nutrients that will allow them to survive the long winter period until spring. In winter, taimen eat little due to a significant decrease in the food supply.

Taimen is a crepuscular predator that is most active in the early morning hours before sunrise and at sunset, preferring to hide in shelters during the day. On cloudy and rainy days, taimen can hunt all day.

Due to the wide natural distribution of taimen, the diet of individual populations can vary significantly. Since taimen is a predator, the basis of its food consists of fish smaller than itself: from the family of grayling, carp, whitefish and others.

Taimen mainly feed on fish, but in addition to fish, it can also hunt small animals and birds.

The most common prey for taimen are:

other fish: roach, perch, whitefish, dace, tugun, gudgeon, bitterling, burbot, grayling, minnow, lenok;
amphibians and reptiles: frogs and newts, lizards;
small rodents: mice, rats, squirrels;
small birds and chicks, including waterfowl: mallards, geese, lesser goose, pintails, bean ducks;
small mammals: cases of taimen attacking dogs and foxes crossing the river have been recorded.

Nutrition and lifestyle

Taimen is an active shadowhunter. On sunless or rainy days, he switches to round-the-clock nutrition, and his diet:

other fish (burbot, char, sculpin, tugun, perch, grayling);
amphibians (frogs, newts);
small mammals (mice, rats, squirrels, muskrats);
waterfowl (mallards, pintails, geese, bean gooses, lesser white-fronted lesser white-fronted geese).

Many cases of attacks by large predators on dogs and foxes crossing the river have been recorded. In the warm season, the share of non-fish food in the menu can be 35-40%. Because of such gluttony and indiscriminate eating, the taimen was nicknamed the river tiger.

Young Talmen feed on chironomid and honeydew larvae, worms, leeches, crustaceans, and fry. At 3-4 years, a gradual abandonment of zooplankton and benthos occurs in favor of representatives of ichthyofauna. As fish grow, the potential of their jaw, swallowing and digestive systems increases dramatically. The young predator is capable of hunting prey no larger than 15-17% of its own body length. In adults, this figure is an impressive 40-42%.

Taimen is a single fish, less often a pair fish. Spends late spring and summer in cold tributaries with a constant supply of spring or melt mountain water. From mid-autumn, it goes on vacation to the main channels of large lowland rivers, which by this time have time to cool down from the summer heat.

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Reproduction

The spawning time of taimen may vary slightly depending on the habitat of the population and water temperature. Typically, the spawning period occurs at the end of May - beginning of June, when the water warms up to 3-8ºС.

With the onset of spring, taimen leaves their wintering grounds and begins to rise upstream in rivers; they tend to enter small tributaries with fast currents, where they lay eggs. Taimen can overcome fairly high thresholds on the way to their goal. A large amount of melt water allows taimen to reach the upper reaches of small tributaries, which fill with water in the spring, and which become too shallow in the summer.

Although taimen are solitary fish, they usually go to the spawning site in pairs: a female and a male; only occasionally one female can be accompanied by two or three males.

To lay eggs, the female chooses shallow water areas with a pebble, rocky or gravel bottom. To protect the eggs from the rapid current, the female clears the bottom with her tail, creating a depression in the bottom soil with a strip of 1 to 8 meters, where she lays her eggs.

The whole process happens very quickly: the female spawns in no more than half a minute. After which the male immediately fertilizes her. After fertilization, the female buries the eggs in the ground. Depending on its age and size, it lays from 5,000 to 30,000 eggs in one spawning.

After the completion of spawning, taimen do not leave the place of laying eggs for another 2-3 weeks, remaining nearby all this time and protecting future offspring from destruction by predators.

Typically, Siberian taimen spawn every year, with the exception of taimen living in very cold waters. Such taimen spawn less frequently and lay eggs once every two years.

What you should know about taimen

Taimen is a real goliath in the world of underwater inhabitants. Among freshwater fish, it can compete in size only with catfish and a number of sturgeon fish. After all, it grows up to two meters long and can weigh about eighty kilograms. To feed such a predator, larvae and fry alone will not be enough. Therefore, the diet of taimen includes not only fish, frogs and crustaceans that live in reservoirs, but also larger prey:

water rats;
waterfowl - waders, pochards, geese and ducks;
small mammals that swim across rivers - rats, mice, squirrels, chipmunks and others.

How many years does taimen live? The age of taimen can exceed the fifty-year mark, as cases of catching giants weighing more than one hundred kilograms have been recorded, but fishermen’s catches most often include individuals up to seven years old and weighing up to five kilograms.

Taimen reaches sexual maturity when it is at least five to seven years old. Spawning of this fish begins with the onset of spring and can continue until the beginning of summer, depending on the region where it lives. This is due to the fact that the taimen does not start spawning until the water warms up to seven to eight degrees.

Taimen is an endangered fish. Despite the fact that there is no commercial fishing for this fish, fishing pressure has led to the fact that, according to disappointing forecasts, it will completely disappear from the face of the Earth in the next ten years, unless, of course, urgent measures are taken to save it. And being included in the Red Book will clearly not be enough to save the population of this fish.

Taimen meat, although rare, is still sold in stores, but the price for it will be serious - 2,600 rubles per kilogram of frozen fish, 3,500 rubles for a steak and 2,000 rubles per kilogram of a soup set. It is impossible to purchase taimen caviar in stores, since it is not sold there due to a shortage.

Offspring

Taimen eggs are large, up to 5-6 mm in diameter, dark amber in color. Their development occurs slowly and directly depends on the water temperature. The fry emerge from the eggs after 30-40 days, and for about two more weeks they do not leave their shelters, feeding on the contents of the yolk sac. And only after one and a half to two months from spawning do the fry become independent and set off to swim. They live in large flocks.

At first they feed on zooplankton and small invertebrates, then they switch to caddisfly larvae, worms and crustaceans. And only in the third or fourth year of life, fish becomes the main food of taimen.

Young grown-up individuals aged 2-4 years, who have not yet reached maturity, stay in the same places as adult taimen. But they prefer to occupy shallow holes.

Taimen reach sexual maturity at approximately the age of 6-7 years, growing up to 50-60 cm and gaining weight around 3-4 kg. All these values can vary depending on the taimen’s living conditions: water temperature, availability of sufficient food, competition with other fish species.

Enemies of taimen

As adults, taimen occupies the top of the food pyramid, so it does not have many natural enemies. For young, medium-sized individuals, predatory fish of other species, as well as adult taimen, which do not really know who they are hunting, pose a serious danger. During the spawning period, when taimen move along small tributaries, overcoming rapids, they become easy prey for bears.

Uncontrolled fishing of taimen, which has high palatability, has led to a sharp decline in its numbers. Now taimen is listed in the Red Book, so fishing for it is prohibited by law. But, unfortunately, this does not stop poaching, which leads to an even greater reduction in the populations of Siberian taimen.

Fishing tourism, which has been actively developing in recent years, has a negative impact on the number of taimen. Fishing travelers from different parts of the world go to distant Siberian rivers. If they come across taimen, they must release it, but it is unknown whether the fish will be able to survive after being hooked and fighting for its life when being fished out.

The number of taimen and the reduction of its range

Without exception, all taimen populations have suffered serious declines in their numbers. According to studies conducted by the International Union for Conservation of Nature, population declines ranged from 50 to 95% depending on the location of the range: the most affected areas were the water resources of China, Mongolia and the European part of Russia, the least affected were in the inaccessible Arctic basin of Russia. Taimen has practically disappeared from the Pechora and Kama basins, and its numbers in the Middle and Polar Urals have decreased significantly.

The greatest concern is the population size of Siberian taimen in the Yenisei and Angara river basins. The Boguchanskaya hydroelectric power station operates on the Angara River, which changes the living conditions of fish for the worse. It contributes to the flooding of small tributaries that serve as spawning grounds for taimen, increasing the amount of flooded wood that decomposes in the water and leads to a decrease in water quality. And the presence of the dam itself and new roads near it contributes to an increase in the uncontrolled catch of taimen due to the easier accessibility of previously wild places.

The active development of fishing tourism and sport fishing, including poaching, had a huge negative impact on the number of taimen.

Indirectly, the number of taimen is negatively affected by indirect human activity:

pollution of rivers and water protection zones, reduction in water quality;
mining, resulting in soil erosion and habitat loss;
overgrazing of livestock in water protection areas;
changing the landscape to create farmland;
fertilizers used in agriculture entering rivers;
construction of roads and dams that disrupt natural riverbeds;
global warming and, as a consequence, changes in water temperature, the content of algae and microorganisms in it, and changes in the natural conditions of the habitat of taimen.

The restoration of the number of individuals in populations is complicated by the slow growth of young animals: at least 6-7 years must pass for taimen to reach sexual maturity. This is a very long period of time, so even if all protective measures are observed, one cannot count on a rapid increase in the number of these fish.

Fishing for taimen

The optimal time for fishing for salmon is May-June (post-spawning feast) or the period from late August to November (autumn feeding). The highest frequency of bites is observed in the morning and evening twilight, when fog falls on the water surface. The fish prefers to stick to the bottom layers of rivers and lakes, so they are less likely to grab bait from the surface or in mid-water. The predator's favorite stopping places are areas near rifts and rock ridges, dumps, mouths of tributaries and streams, and small islands on reaches.

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Spinning fishing

It is better to refuse ultralight and light forms, which will not be able to cope with the large mass and strong jerks of the redfish - when fishing, the prey often “lights a candle”, jumping high out of the water. A rod 2.2-3.0 m long with a top weight of 50-60 g is optimal. When catching taimen, spinning rods Aiko SGP, Daiwa Whisker, Hearty Rise SYLPHY have proven themselves well. When choosing a reel, it is better to give preference to spinning or multiplier traction models with a drag load of 7-10 kg and a spool capacity of 4000 or more according to the Shimano classification. The main thread is a braided cord with a cross-section of 0.23-0.3 mm with a breaking load of 12-40 kg. To avoid accelerated abrasion of the vein on stones, you can use a fluorocarbon shock leader. The main wiring is slow.

Lures for taimen

Due to the natural caution of the predator, you should use oscillating or rotating spoons of natural colors, which are characteristic of local fish (silver, copper, brass, gold), and have a set of different-sized baits. Large taimen fish well for small Mepps Lusox or Abu Garcia Toby, but completely ignore their larger counterparts. Good results are demonstrated by sinking and diving wobblers (suspenders) and Devons with spinning blades. Steadily floating fish-shaped baits (poppers) are used extremely rarely due to their low efficiency. It is much better to catch taimen using an artificial mouse 10-12 cm long, which realistically imitates a rodent floundering in the water. Such a spoon with several tees is especially effective when catching a predator on a cloudy day or at night.

Protection of taimen

The rapid decline in the number of taimen has caused concern to the International Union for Conservation of Nature. Siberian taimen (Hucho taimen) and Sakhalin taimen (Hucho perryi) have been classified as “vulnerable” species and included in the International Red Book. Now all species of taimen are listed in the Red Book of Russia as species under threat of destruction.

The IUCN is cryopreserving taimen genetic material and calling for the creation of special conservation areas where the natural habitat for taimen will be restored. The Union also recommends reproducing the taimen population in artificially created conditions and reducing the negative impact of human agricultural activities on the taimen habitat, including reducing river pollution.

The Union recommends significantly limiting the extraction of minerals, gravel and sand in taimen habitats to prevent changes in stream and river courses. For fishing tourists, it is recommended to use fishing methods that are least traumatic for fish: using a single hook, artificial bait, gentle fishing for caught fish; holding it in the water when removing it from the hook and quickly releasing it.

In addition, the National Geographic Society has created Project MegaFish, which covers fish species that grow up to 180 cm or weigh 100 kg. This project includes a list of twenty species of freshwater fish that are at particular risk, including taimen. About 80% of these species are on the verge of extinction. The project aims to preserve and restore the species' natural habitat.

A special Taimen Conservation Fund has been created, the purpose of which is to ensure the survival of the remaining taimen populations. The foundation is fighting illegal commercial harvesting of taimen.

Fishing for taimen is prohibited, especially during the spawning period, when the fish are most vulnerable, and so as not to reduce the number of the future generation of taimen. During the spawning period, special security raids are organized to prevent poaching, and the protection of spawning rivers is strengthened.

Work is underway to artificially restore the number of taimen, but given the long period of reaching sexual maturity, the increase in the number of taimen populations is extremely slow.

Mongolia was the first of all countries to pay attention to the problem of reducing the number of taimen and was the first to take steps to restore their numbers. She strengthened the protection of natural habitats and introduced strict fishing rules with mandatory release of fish. Work is being carried out among the local population to explain the importance of restoring the number of taimen and preventing poaching. Now the percentage of taimen population recovery in Mongolia is higher than in other countries.

Experts from the Wildlife Protection Fund are confident that in order to preserve and increase the number of taimen populations, strong financial support from the state is needed, aimed at strictly combating poaching; and that the construction of fish factories will not be able to solve the problem of the natural habitat of taimen.