Fly fishing how to catch Arctic catfish

In August this year, I had the privilege of going to the Haba River with my friends to go fishing for Arctic catfish, which also made me realize my dream of fishing for Arctic catfish. Our group went fishing on the border with Kazakhstan, facing the exotic mountains, looking at the clear boundary river, and finding an inlet to throw a rod was particularly pleasant. Let's share with you the author's experience of this exploration of Arctic catfish.

Arctic catfish, belonging to the salmon family, is one of the best fish species for fly fishing, distributed in the Irtysh River in the Altay region of Xinjiang, China, which is connected to the Arctic Ocean in the alpine stream flow system. Arctic catfish like clear and high oxygen water flow, food is mostly based on the surface of the water and the bottom of the insects, at dusk or in the shade of the water can often see the waves they stir up when they chase the surface insects. Individually larger Arctic catfish rarely forage on the surface of the water. As the climate warms, most of the fish that migrate in the Arctic Ocean stay in the mountains, where the clear streams become their habitat. Regarding the habits of Arctic catfish, local anglers have the saying of "seven (months) up, eight (months) down, nine (months) back to the nest", so as a fishing arctic catfish, anglers need to go up and down the mountain with the change of seasons to find their tracks, in order to see their appearance.

Most anglers who like fly have a dream of dating an Arctic catfish, but the Arctic catfish is in the middle of the mountains, and every angler who wants to invite it must have strong feet, rich outdoor survival experience and superb fly fishing skills. In August, the sun is strong during the day, the top of the people's heads is hot, the temperature is low at night, even if you wear a down jacket, you don't feel hot, and the tea left over at night has been frozen in the morning. Anglers can imagine the temperature difference between day and night here, and can also experience the special climate of Xinjiang", "wearing leather jackets early and wearing yarn at noon, eating watermelon around the stove".

There is no road along the stream in the mountain, and anglers can walk on the rocks by the stream according to the size of the water in the mountain stream, and the surface of the stones wet by the water is very slippery, so you should be extra careful when walking to prevent accidents. There are many pit vipers in the Alta mountains, and when encountering cliffs, especially the bare rock side of the sunny side, you need to climb, and anglers must beware of pit vipers and not be bitten by it.

When fishing, anglers can prepare some nymph hooks, such as ephemerals (earth yellow), wasps (golden yellow), ants (black), fly hooks, the color is mostly orange, black, yellow, hook size is 10 to 12 is appropriate. When fly fishing, double hooks can be used, and in waters with fewer obstacles, you can use hooks to increase the area of your search. If anglers are familiar with the underwater situation, they can choose a suitable fishing group according to the underwater obstacles to do fishing, and when the fish is hooked but not baited, they can change to other colors of hooks for fishing, and generally get a bite. Anglers from outside the city who come here for fishing are best to find locals as guides, otherwise they may not be able to find a fishing spot and delay the fishing time.

Arctic catfish like to stay in the slow flow of the rapids, the junction of the slow current and the rapids and the back of the stones in the rapids are its hiding places, and anglers must not give up fishing because the water flow rate is slow. Anglers can hook at the rapids and drag the flies into the junction of the rapids, usually getting a bite. In the running water, it is necessary to fish in the submerged water, and increase the open lead beans according to the depth of the water and the rapidness of the current; when fishing on the slow water surface, it is necessary to fish with teasing, so that the fly imitates the action of the insect after falling on the water surface to attract the attention of the fish. Local anglers use rock rods over 4.5 meters, and the use of long rods and short lines to make fishing has achieved very good results, and even salmon are caught in the season of good luck.