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Taimen ( Danube salmon ) on a fly in Austria!
Article of Ch.Menz and U.Rieder
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The taimen is also called "Danube salmon" in Europe, because he is only found in the river Danube and all the rivers which run into the Danube like the rivers Mur,Enns, Drau, Lech, Inn and a lot of smaller streams. That means that you will find them in Austria as well as Germany, Poland or Slovenia.
The taimen was close to die off some years ago because of shore lining, weir systems and pollution. The taimen is like all trout a fish who wants to go upstream to spawn, which was not possible anymore in a lot of rivers. Nowadays conditions have become much better and also the number of taimen in our rivers is increasing.
Another reason of that is that the number of grayling, which is the favorite food of taimen, is also increasing. The average size of our taimen is from 90 to 110cm and about 16 to 30 pounds weight. But every year there are several fish caught up to more than 130 cm and more than 60 pounds weight. The Austrian record fish, which is also the world record, has been caught with bait on the river Drau with a length of 160cm and 108 pounds weight.
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The fishing season on taimen starts in September and ends last day of February, because the taimen will spawn in early April and is therefore protected for that time. If you want to catch taimen on a fly you have to be very patient, because it will sometimes take a lot of time. These fish will feed not every day, sometimes only one time per week or less than that, because of the cold temperature of the water in the winter time. But often times after days of nothing several taimen will be caught on the same day.The key is to be on the right place on the right time - like always in fishing. But it is very hard to predict one of these days, so the best thing is continue working and spend as much time as possible with your fly on the river.
You will usually find them in the deep pools of the rivers on the ground, but they will also come to the shallow areas to hunt some grayling or trout, where you can fish on them perfectly with a fly.We use #12 weight rods like GT4 SW, short sinking ace sink6/7 shooting heads to load up your rod quickly and cast big streamers of 15 to 25 cm. Often times a nice grayling imitation works well, but sometimes "shocking" colors like red and yellow combined with white are successful. Size of streamers is more important than the color, but the most important thing is to be as often as possible on the river and searching for taimen and cover all the places often times. The taimen is a very shy and spooky fish, be careful if you come close to the shore! The sun in the wintertime is flat and your shadow is long, try to avoid things like that!a
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imen is also called “Danube salmon” in Europe, because he is only found in the 
Taimen ( Danube salmon ) on a fly in Austria!
Article of Ch.Menz and U.Rieder
The taimen is also called "Danube salmon" in Europe, because he is only found in the river Danube and all the rivers which run into the Danube like the rivers Mur,Enns, Drau, Lech, Inn and a lot of smaller streams. That means that you will find them in Austria as well as Germany, Poland or Slovenia.
The taimen was close to die off some years ago because of shore lining, weir systems and pollution. The taimen is like all trout a fish who wants to go upstream to spawn, which was not possible anymore in a lot of rivers. Nowadays conditions have become much better and also the number of taimen in our rivers is increasing.
Another reason of that is that the number of grayling, which is the favorite food of taimen, is also increasing. The average size of our taimen is from 90 to 110cm and about 16 to 30 pounds weight. But every year there are several fish caught up to more than 130 cm and more than 60 pounds weight. The Austrian record fish, which is also the world record, has been caught with bait on the river Drau with a length of 160cm and 108 pounds weight.
The fishing season on taimen starts in September and ends last day of February, because the taimen will spawn in early April and is therefore protected for that time. If you want to catch taimen on a fly you have to be very patient, because it will sometimes take a lot of time. These fish will feed not every day, sometimes only one time per week or less than that, because of the cold temperature of the water in the winter time. But often times after days of nothing several taimen will be caught on the same day.The key is to be on the right place on the right time - like always in fishing. But it is very hard to predict one of these days, so the best thing is continue working and spend as much time as possible with your fly on the river.
You will usually find them in the deep pools of the rivers on the ground, but they will also come to the shallow areas to hunt some grayling or trout, where you can fish on them perfectly with a fly.We use #12 weight rods like GT4 SW, short sinking ace sink6/7 shooting heads to load up your rod quickly and cast big streamers of 15 to 25 cm. Often times a nice grayling imitation works well, but sometimes "shocking" colors like red and yellow combined with white are successful. Size of streamers is more important than the color, but the most important thing is to be as often as possible on the river and searching for taimen and cover all the places often times. The taimen is a very shy and spooky fish, be careful if you come close to the shore! The sun in the wintertime is flat and your shadow is long, try to avoid things like that!a
imen is also called “Danube salmon” in Europe, because he is only found in the
As you head south into central and southern Slovenia the mountains gradually fade into rolling hills and pastures. This heavily forested landscape is divided by numerous rivers, from the largest river in the country, the Sava, to the countless smaller chalk streams and spring creeks like the Unica and Krka. In these rivers you will find the Hucho (relative of the Mongolian Taimen), European Grayling, native Brown Trout, Rainbow Trout, Northern Pike and Carp. With so many high caliber species, beautiful scenery, fantastic food and a strong and unique culture, its easy to see why fly fishing Slovenia is a must!
