Where to Go Fishing This Summer

Filed in archive Fishing on March 31, 2008

No matter where you are in the country right now, its probably an ideal time to grab your fishing pole and bait and head to the nearest pond. But, if you're looking for something a little further than your local watering hole, you're in luck. The editors of Forbes magazine asked six angling experts about the best places to go to catch the big ones. Think you know? You'll be in for a surprise.

Gaspe Peninsula Atlantic Salmon, Quebec

Atlantic salmon the size of fireplace logs run up the clear streams of Quebec's Gaspe Peninsula. "For reasons not understood," says writer and editor Tom Dickson, these ostensibly nonfeeding fish "will take dry flies." Dickson himself watched a 35-pounder rise from the bottom of the Petite Cascapedia River to engulf his deer-hair Bomber. "Unfortunately, [my fly] had a dull hook point... and even with two hard hook sets the hook pulled free and the fish sank back down to the bottom."

Mongolian Taimen, Mongolia

Hucho taimen, is the world's largest salmonid (with reports of 200-pounders), and also one of the most outrageously aggressive. Swimming in streams across Siberia and Mongolia, they pound gigantic streamers or floating bugs, and then tear up the surface. Thad Robison of the Angling Exploration Group reports catching and releasing a 20-inch lenok, also known as Manchurian trout, only to see it smashed by a much larger taimen.

Kola Peninsula Atlantic Salmon, Russia

Atlantic salmon, brown trout and arctic char all swim in the barren-ground streams that flow seaward off the Kola Peninsula in northern Russia near Murmansk. Watersheds of the Karlovka, Eastern Litza, Rynda and Zolotaya make up the roadless two-million-acre Atlantic Salmon Reserve. The fishing, especially for Atlantic salmon, ranks among the world's best and draws anglers from all over the world beginning in late May through September. But the price to pay is the difficulty in navigating this remote country.