River Monsters S04E06 Mongolian Mauler

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Documentary, River Monsters S04E06 Mongolian Mauler   #RiverMonsters #Documentary

Transcript

00:00My name is Jeremy Wade and for the past 30 years, I've been traveling the globe on the trail of fresh water monsters

00:16Normally, I'm hunting them down in the lush and humid tropics, but this time I'm in a totally different zone

00:24As I travel deep into northern Asia

00:27It's a desolate place where only the tough survive

00:33This is actually quite a grim unpleasant side

00:37The prehistoric predator I'm after has a savage reputation for attacking anything that gets in its way

00:44Including unwary fishermen

00:57I first became hooked on stories about river monsters as a kid

01:15From Giants with a deadly 10-inch dagger in their tail

01:19To creatures that can literally shock you to death

01:27First go amazing first go

01:29There's one monster I read about called the time in but I always wanted to catch

01:34But I always thought either they're now extinct or they're now so rare that they're all but impossible to find

01:41But recently I've been getting reports that have made me think again about catching this legendary predator

01:47As a boy, I read a legend about a time and trapped in ice

01:52It was so large the starving livestock herders survived the harsh winter by slicing off pieces of the living fish

01:59When spring arrived and the ice melted this giant time and climbed onto the land and ate all the herders

02:07Far-fetched but it speaks volumes about how this fish is regarded

02:15They can grow up to six feet long with a mouth packed full of needle-sharp teeth

02:20And I've had a recent report that shows what level of aggression they're capable of

02:30A man was fishing for time and when he felt a violent strike on the line

02:37After a struggle he managed to bring the fish in

02:47At which point it turned and bit his arm drawing blood. I wonder if it's aggressive enough to be deadly

02:58Timon were historically found in Siberia China and Mongolia, but they've been fished to the brink of extinction in most places

03:07These reports I've been getting come from what could be their last stronghold

03:12northern Mongolia

03:14One of the most remote places on earth

03:20Mongolia is the landlocked kingdom of Genghis Khan

03:27His brutal armies the golden hordes terrorized Asia and half of Europe

03:33It may look hospitable now, but winter temperatures regularly dropped to minus 40 degrees

03:42And only the toughest creatures can survive in this

03:48It's the end of summer I only have a small window to fish before the iron grip of winter will tighten again on this land

03:56After a couple of days traveling I arrive at a tiny town called moron that's rarely visited by westerners

04:06From here. I'm heading into desolate wilderness

04:13I've never been to Mongolia before but when I'm somewhere new I like to tap into the knowledge of the local fishermen

04:20It's worked well for me in the past allowing me to pick up pointers on technique bait and location all helping me to catch the monster. I'm after

04:37But Mongolia is unique in my experience because here nobody seems to know anything about fish or fishing

04:44I'm

04:46I'm totally mystified how can there be a land without any fishing culture

04:53No, he's saying traditionally mongolians. They don't eat fish

04:59Most people in Mongolia are Buddhist I've been directed to a temple on the edge of town where I might get some answers

05:14It's actually believed that if you kill fish that's gonna bring bad luck to you

05:21This would explain why I'm finding no fellow fishermen and why mongolia's rivers are the last bastion of the mighty time in

05:35Without any local knowledge to help me I feel the pressure to start fishing as soon as possible

05:39I found a place near the temple where I can't resist dropping my line into the water

05:47The time in I'm after are ferocious predators

05:51I've heard they like their prey alive and squealing

05:55Local reports say they pick off prairie dogs as they swim across rivers

05:59So I'll try to trigger their predatory reflex by creating a disturbance on the surface with a spinner or a fly

06:06When you're using something like that

06:12To entice the fish that's just got so little weight to it. There's no way you can cast that out

06:18Using its own weight. So you're using the weight of the line

06:24You've got a heavy line and a flexible rod and that's what actually gets this very

06:30Light insubstantial fly out onto the water

06:36I've only fly fished a few times before so it doesn't exactly come naturally to me

06:46Despite that, I've had some interesting results

06:49No, we're just gonna break the fish off

06:58My fly casting is starting to come right

07:00It's not long before I get a take

07:02It's not long before I get a take

07:06Oh something actually took that

07:08Oh here we go, here we go

07:10That's not a timing but it's my first Mongolian fish

07:14This is a dace, a member of the carp family. Not exactly a monster, but at least I'm on the food chain

07:28All I have to do now is move up it until I reach the top

07:32The next day I meet up with my guides Django who knows the area where the man was bitten

07:50Hi, Jeremy. How are you doing? I'm Django

07:54He's agreed to take me there over a hundred miles into the wilderness

08:00But he insists on two more people joining our team

08:05Django is the only one who speaks English

08:11Our transport is an ex-Russian army six-wheeler

08:14This is the only reliable vehicle for the terrain ahead

08:29All roads stop at the edge of Moron

08:32From here on out it's going to be off-roading

08:35All the way up to the Russian border

08:37A lawless area where few people dare to go

08:44I'm here in the summer but this landscape has a darker side

08:49During the winter of 2010 it was so cold that millions of yaks horses and other livestock died

08:57But what doesn't kill you makes you stronger

09:00And that applies to fish too

09:05All around the signs of how life is just clinging on for most of the time

09:14Right, I thought that was going to be a cow in the distance

09:20That's actually a horse, it's still got the bridle on it

09:23So, you know, this is a grim sight

09:26But a very graphic

09:28Illustration of how harsh this landscape is

09:32Looks very benign when you sort of see it in the wide

09:35With this thin layer of green over it

09:37But you start looking closely

09:39And this is the kind of thing that you see

09:41This carcass strewn landscape is making me uneasy

09:50It doesn't help that I can't communicate with two of my travelling companions

09:57And the third, Janga, isn't saying much

10:01After a bone-shaking ten-hour drive

10:16We drop down into a valley

10:18Where tonight's camp will be

10:22This is the first water we've come across

10:24While setting up camp, Janga casually drops a bombshell

10:41A couple of years ago, I was camping here with a couple of people

10:44Yeah

10:45And we've been shot at

10:49We were here, heard a gunshot

10:52And the bullet just

10:53Phew, bing

10:55Hissed the rock

10:58I can't believe what I'm hearing

11:02The bullet hit a rock not far from Janga

11:04The chances are it was a warning shot

11:16But they weren't going to hang around to find out

11:19We just packed everything up and just went back

11:24Fast as we can

11:26Who was shooting at you?

11:27That was ninjas

11:29Ninjas are prospectors

11:33Part of a gold rush sweeping Mongolia

11:35After massive deposits were found here

11:37Some areas of the country have become like the wild west

11:49This is a place that no police or anything here

11:53So they wanted to do something they want to do

11:59Janga hasn't been back here since

12:01And although he and his friends have agreed to help me catch a Taiman

12:05We'll have to watch our backs for renegade gold diggers potentially taking aim

12:15We just have time to set up camp before sunset

12:18Getting shot at is not something that I was necessarily banking on or the possibility of that happening

12:31And having heard that the whole landscape takes on a different aspect

12:36We're wide open here surrounded by high vantage points

12:38Janga also said that this wasn't an isolated incident

12:45He also heard gunfire at night quite regularly

12:48And this was probably cattle rustlers who are also now to operate in this area

12:53So it's going to make the fishing considerably more challenging than I expected

12:59In a way that I wasn't expecting at all

13:01I'm in Mongolia near the Russian border

13:20Tracking down a man-sized fighting fish called the Taiman

13:22I've traveled over a hundred miles into the wilderness

13:27To a river where I've heard a man was savagely bitten by one

13:31Taiman is said to be territorial

13:37I'm hoping the toothy assailant still prowls this river

13:41It's hard to reconcile the beauty with the dangers in this landscape

13:46From the harsh weather to the gun-toting gold diggers I've heard can be found in these hills

13:53It's going to make the fishing considerably more challenging than I expected

13:57After a restless night, I'm now focused on what I've come here for

14:08The river and catching my first Taiman

14:11This landscape is very different from what I'm used to

14:13The moment it looks pristine, as if it should be teeming with animals

14:19But for most of the year, it's a very different picture

14:22Which is why there's so little wildlife here

14:28The river is frozen over for six months every year

14:32So anything living in that water has got to be tough

14:35Scratching a living from whatever comes its way

14:38Is also a very hard place to live

14:40Compared to a tropical river, there's almost no food

14:44Taiman will often stick to one area for long periods of time

14:49If a strike doesn't come quickly, it most often means it's already spooked

14:54Or there isn't one there

14:56To maximise my chances, I have to keep on casting and moving

15:01Covering as much water as possible

15:03So we'll drift down the river in a raft

15:05I'm used to rivers where I can jump in and out wearing just shorts

15:11But here, the water is bitterly cold

15:15I need waders and thermal clothing to give me some protection

15:19We'll be cut off from the outside world

15:24If anything happens to us, we could be days away from help

15:27Each day, Djanga's friends, Tolga and Baira, go ahead to set up camp

15:34While I fish

15:36Hour after hour casting my line on the water

15:39Trying to provoke this aggressive fish into striking

15:42The plan is to go down the Del Jamoron through 60 miles of inaccessible landscapes

15:54Where hopefully the armed ninjas haven't yet reached

15:58But there's always that uneasy feeling of being watched

16:05At the water's edge, something catches my eye

16:08There must be hundreds if not thousands of one inch long fish fry here

16:15These are very young linoc and grayling

16:18But what's significant to me is the fact that they're here

16:21They're not in the main river

16:23They're in this little shallow pocket that's inaccessible really

16:26From that deeper water

16:28And the fact that they're here, that tells me

16:30That the main river is not a healthy place to be if you're a small fish

16:32There are dangerous predators out there

16:35And this, if you're a small fish, is actually the safest place to be

16:43Mongolia is proving to be a Jekyll and Hyde landscape

16:48The calm waters give way to rapids without warning

16:51Dangers come from above and beneath

16:56Hitting a submerged boulder could tip us into the frigid torrent

17:02While overhead, loose rocks frequently drop from the granite cliffs

17:14Tymen like fast running water because it's perfect for ambushing prey

17:18They hold in the calmer eddies that form behind rocks

17:22Waiting for their food to come to them

17:26All the time, I'm looking out for a flash of the Tymen's distinctive red tail

17:37Main current is surging in that direction

17:39You've got a bit of an eddy

17:41This is a classic but a counter current

17:43And I was thinking I might see a Tymen down here

17:45The riverbed is strewn with slippery boulders

17:49And getting a sure footing is not easy

17:54One slip and I could be swept away

18:01After working the rapids for hours

18:04There's something on my line

18:06And it's putting up a strong fight

18:08Yeah, it's a fish

18:09How many descendants of the fearsome warrior Genghis Khan are alive today?

18:17The answer right after this

18:19DNA tests show that Genghis Khan has roughly 16 million descendants living today

18:36I'm in the Mongolian wilderness

18:39Going after a giant Tymen

18:41A fish with a reputation for attacking anything in its territory

18:45They're rumoured to lurk in rapids

18:47And I may have one on the end of my line

18:50Yeah, it's a fish

18:52I'll bring it up here

18:56This is not the fish I'm looking for

18:59It's a lenok

19:00I'm going to get it on soft grass

19:08Very, very strong fish

19:09Actually very hard to keep hold of this when it wriggles

19:12This is a relative of the Tymen

19:14Wow, strong, strong fish

19:16Strong as these fish are though

19:17Tymen will eat these

19:19A big Tymen will just inhale this head first

19:21But a good sign

19:23A fish on a lure from these rapids

19:25Very, very fast water

19:26It's amazing how fast

19:28The water can be and fish will still live there

19:31This lenok only weighs around 3 pounds

19:35But it has an incredible strength for its size

19:37Like everything in this savage environment

19:40It's a lot tougher than it looks

19:46It's getting towards the end of my first day on the river

19:49And we have to get to the safety of camp before it's dark

19:57Janga is loosening up as we get to know each other

20:00I suspect he knows a bit more about this fish than I first thought

20:04Because he now reveals a surprising tattoo

20:08I marked myself with the Tymen tattoo on my arm

20:13The tail of his Tymen tattoo is represented by a wolf

20:16Because the Tymen is the only predator in Mongolian waters

20:20And is sometimes called the river wolf

20:25His design also contains an eagle

20:28Another top predator here

20:31Janga clearly sees the Tymen as a creature to be feared

20:37I ask if he's aware of any humans falling foul of them

20:41And he let slip that he knows about the same incident that I've come to investigate

20:44It was a big fish

20:47I don't know, it was like around 4 feet

20:50And he was handling it

20:52And that came and just beat his arm

20:58Arm on the muscle

21:02So that he was bleeding

21:04Janga seems concerned about me wanting to catch one of these fish

21:08Timon is a real aggressive mean

21:12It's a real scary fish

21:15It's a real scary fish

21:18It's gonna scare me

21:20This is all fleshing out my mental profile of my adversary

21:23And what I have to prepare for

21:26This is all fleshing out my mental profile of my adversary

21:28And what I have to prepare for

21:34I'm already keeping a watchful eye on the surrounding hills

21:39But I've also got to be wary of the ground under my feet

21:42Amazing how camouflaged this thing is

21:44Tolga has just found a venomous snake

21:46Just in the grass

21:48Near the camp, I mean in between the tents

21:49This snake is a type of pit viper

21:51It's fangs inject a cocktail of toxins that dissolve flesh and paralyze prey

21:53I'm already keeping a watchful eye on the surrounding hills

21:56But I've also got to be wary of the ground under my feet

21:59Amazing how camouflaged this thing is

22:01Tolga has just found a venomous snake

22:03Just in the grass

22:05Near the camp, I mean in between the tents

22:08This snake is a type of pit viper

22:11Its fangs inject a cocktail of toxins that dissolve flesh and paralyze prey

22:19Medical help and any anti-venoms are potentially days away

22:25It's quite hard to see when it's still

22:27But that's quite disconcerting

22:29I might have been walking within feet of that, you know, this morning

22:32What's interesting though, more interesting

22:33Is that one of these was seen in the river last year on the surface

22:37And a Tymon came up and took it

22:39A fish that takes venomous snakes

22:41I mean that really does say something about this predatory fish

22:46We take it far away from camp and let it go

22:54I've only got a short amount of time to catch a Tymon before the winter freeze

22:59So I fish every bit of water I can

23:03Here it's so clear, I can see the fish the Tymon feed on

23:07Here it's so clear, I can see the fish the Tymon feed on

23:11Hopefully there's one nearby

23:13Right, this is fish

23:15It's not a Tymon

23:17I seem to have caught everything in this river

23:19Except what I'm after

23:21Right, this is fish

23:23It's not a Tymon

23:25I seem to have caught everything in this river

23:28Except what I'm after

23:29In this case, it's a Grayling

23:32They're found all over Asia and Europe

23:34And can grow to two feet long

23:36That's the sort of trademark sail-like dorsal fin

23:40Very pretty fish, quite stripy flanks

23:42Relative of the trout, it's got this little adipose fin here

23:43Very nice to catch that, get my striking reflexes

23:45But I think the biggest role the Grayling have in this river is actually food for the Tymon

23:47It's actually quite unusual for me to catch fish that I can see

23:49Normally the rivers that I fish are quite murky

23:51And this water though, is wonderfully clear

23:53Particularly now it's going down, it's getting clearer almost by the day

23:54Very nice to catch that, get my striking reflexes

23:57But I think the biggest role the Grayling have in this river is actually food for the Tymon

24:02It's actually quite unusual for me to catch fish that I can see

24:07Normally the rivers that I fish are quite murky

24:10And this water though, is wonderfully clear

24:13Particularly now it's going down, it's getting clearer almost by the day

24:24We carry on drifting down the river for another couple of days, with no luck

24:32I'm beginning to think that my childhood dream of catching a monster Tymon

24:37Will remain just that, a dream

24:42Seeing my frustration, Djanga arranges for me to meet someone who might be able to help

24:47I'm instructed to enter a traditional Mongolian tent, called a Gur

24:58I assume whoever is in there, can help me find the Tymon I'm after

25:04But the person I see, has never cast a line

25:07I'm deep in the Mongolian wilderness, on the trail of a legendary predator, called the Tymon

25:31A river monster of my childhood dreams

25:33My time here is running out, but finally I may have found somebody who can help me catch this rare fish

25:46I was expecting maybe a gun-toting gold digger

25:50But it's a shaman

25:52The first thing that strikes me, is that she's nothing like the witch doctors I've met in places such as the Congo

25:59And the Okavango in Africa

26:00They are always elder statesmen of the village

26:04But in Mongolia, both men and women can be shaman

26:13Although most people in Mongolia are Buddhist, many also follow an older, animistic religion

26:20A pagan belief system with deep roots stretching beyond the age of Genghis Khan

26:24What she's actually saying is that everything has a spirit, even things that we regard as inanimate, the mountains, the sky, the water, the trees, spirits are basically all around, everything out there has a spirit

26:45The water spirit

26:48The water spirit owns the fish, it's almost as if the fish are the children of the spirit

26:54The shaman tells me that these spirits are ever-present, and have the power to keep me from catching a Tymon

27:01I'd assumed the powerful feeling of being watched was down to the ninjas, but now I'm not so sure

27:12She offers to contact the spirit world, and I'm hoping this will give me some guidance as to what to do

27:19Just after sunset, the ceremony to summon a spirit begins

27:28For me, spirituality and fishing have a lot in common

27:33Casting a line on the water is like asking a question, or saying a prayer

27:38Both rely on faith, faith that you're going to get an answer, or in my case, a fish

27:43You don't just become a shaman in Mongolia, a spirit picks you in childhood, but only reveals itself in later life

28:02She starts by banging a drum, to help her enter a trance-like state

28:13Before my eyes, she transforms, from the soft-spoken person I met in the ger, to a gruff-voiced oracle

28:36She is literally a woman possessed

28:44Having looked at my palms, although fishing is a bad thing, it doesn't please the spirits

28:58There is some good in me, and the spirit will bring the fish to me

29:04But what I've got to do, not just here, but other rivers, is when I go to the river

29:08I've got to make some kind of offering to the spirits, before I fish

29:15I've promised that if I catch a taiman, I'll let it go unharmed

29:19I've travelled thousands of miles, to try and catch this fish, and so far, I haven't gotten close

29:29I'll take any help I can get

29:30I'll take any help I can get

29:34Before setting off again, I do as the shaman ordered, and go down to the river, to give an offering of yak milk to the spirits

29:48My time on the river is getting short, and there's still no sign of any taiman

30:02A fisherman's fortune can turn on a dime

30:14You can go day after day without anything, but then suddenly, all of your frustrations dissolve in a second

30:22I see a large shape in the water, heading towards my lure

30:31Could this be my first taiman?

30:33After travelling miles and miles on a remote river in the Mongolian wilderness

30:49Time is running out to catch the elusive taiman

30:55Yeah, it's a fish

30:56I feel like I've caught nearly every type of fish in these waters

30:59Is it strong? It's so strong

31:02Except what I'm after

31:06That's a fish, that's a fish

31:08After seeing the telltale flash of taiman red, I'm sure that I have the monster I dreamed about on my line

31:14That almost took it on the drop as it hit the water

31:17That's a good size as well

31:21Yeah, we need to get just clear of the...

31:23Let's get, let's keep away from this rock

31:24Let's just come into, let's just go behind

31:26Oh, f***

31:29That came off, that came off

31:30I sort of, trying to muscle it past this snag here

31:33But, er, that just slipped off the hook

31:37The shaman said that I would get to see a taiman

31:45And that's exactly what's happened

31:51But I've travelled over 4,000 miles, been fishing for days

31:55And I'm wondering now if this is the closest I'll ever get to one

31:58Janga tells me of a likely spot further downstream

32:06Where there's a good set of rapids

32:08I start fishing immediately

32:10It's easy to get dejected, but I'm trusting my intuition again

32:15This is just where a taiman could be lurking

32:26Then I spot a large one coming up in the water

32:29And I feel my hopes rise

32:31Now, taiman tend to be quite territorial

32:33If they're seen in the spot, very often they're still there later

32:35So, a bit of luck in a few moments' time

32:38This could be inside its mouth

32:43Taiman are the undisputed masters of Mongolia's icy waters

32:47Will my lure trigger its legendary predatory instinct?

32:51Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, got a fish, got a fish

33:05Something has hit my lure and is fighting hard

33:09Again, I see the distinctive flash of red

33:12It's another taiman

33:14Yeah, it's a strong fish, a strong fish this

33:18And this feels bigger than the one that got away

33:21It's actually just in this heavy water

33:23And that heavy water is moving upstream

33:25So, I'm just giving constant pressure

33:27There it is, there it is, there it is

33:29It's in among some rocks

33:31If my line catches on one, it could easily snap

33:45It might be ready

33:48To secure the taiman, Django grabs hold of its tail

33:51Fantastic!

33:53We both know its teeth are capable of causing some serious damage

33:59There's nothing like bringing a good-sized fish in

34:02To make you forget all your frustrations

34:04My first taiman

34:06Not a monster, but a great start

34:09And this is a big old rapid

34:11And this was just right on the edge of that

34:13Rubber fish

34:15And it's just

34:16Bouncing down, bouncing down

34:18And it's got a little bit of a kick

34:19And that tail there

34:20And then suddenly

34:21Boom!

34:22And look at that

34:23That's a lovely fish

34:24That's a lovely fish

34:25Wow!

34:26So my first taiman

34:31And it's still got a lot of fight left in it actually

34:33I mean it's just one bar of muscle

34:37But very, very strong fish

34:39And I mean just to survive in these rapids

34:41This water, I mean there's more white water than, you know, still water here

34:45And this thing was living right on the edge of that

34:49I mean this fish really, really living up to its reputation

34:56Its mouth is packed with needle-sharp teeth

34:59They're angled back like a shark's

35:01So whatever it grabs hold of won't get away

35:04Now although this is a predatory fish

35:06It's also true to say it's a very pretty fish

35:10It's a very nicely marked fish

35:11But these spots, of course, serve as perfect camouflage really

35:15And this rocky river

35:18Just blending in with the background

35:20I mean it makes it a real stealth predator

35:23The shaman warned me not to kill or harm any taiman

35:27I release it quickly

35:29So I don't damage my chance of finding an even bigger one

35:35Yeah, I think it's ready to go

35:41There it is

35:42I'm eager to carry on fishing

35:46But it's near nightfall

35:48And we have to get to the safety of our nearby camp

35:54After catching my first taiman

35:56There's a new confidence among us

36:03And we share stories far into the night

36:06Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, lots of gestures

36:08Yeah, lots of gestures

36:09I get up early the next morning to have one last go in the rapids near camp

36:32This time I'm going to try heavy duty fly fishing

36:35Maybe this will deliver the big fish I'm after

36:48The taiman will most likely be holding in the eddies and boils behind the big rocks

36:52So this is where I aim my casts

36:57But with such a strong current bumping my fly

36:59It's hard to feel the exact moment when I have a take

37:06All of this is adding to the pressure

37:08As this could be my last chance here

37:10And I feel that I'm starting to make mistakes

37:13Yeah, it's a fish, it's a fish

37:14I've just seen a fish come up from my fly

37:15It was in the tail of the white water there

37:17And I think I probably pulled it out of its mouth

37:18I should have just given it a little bit longer

37:19It's very hard in the heat of the moment

37:20You just get this reflex

37:21You see the fish, I want to set the hook

37:22But ah, but they're here, they're here, and they're coming up

37:24But ah, but they're here, they're here

37:25And they're coming up

37:26I've just seen a fish come up from my fly

37:27I've just seen a fish come up from my fly

37:28It was in the tail of the white water there

37:29And I think I probably pulled it out of its mouth

37:32I should have just given it a little bit longer

37:33It's very hard in the heat of the moment

37:34You just get this reflex

37:35You see the fish, I want to set the hook

37:36But ah, but they're here, they're here

37:37And they're coming up

37:38After feeling the power of the Taiman

37:53I believe that a big one could pull me off balance

37:56And into the water

37:57I need to keep my footing

38:00Suddenly I'm being pulled towards the water

38:09There's something big on my line

38:11Yes, yes, yes, yes

38:13That's a fish, that's a fish

38:23I'm in the Mongolian wilderness

38:25On the hunt for an elusive Taiman

38:28My time here is running out

38:30But I know that one of these rare territorial monsters

38:33Is somewhere right in front of me

38:35Yes, yes, yes, yes

38:37That's a fish, that's a fish

38:39I mustn't let the line snag on the boulders

38:42Or it's game over

38:51Right, I can see it

38:53I can see that red tail

38:55Right, now just take it easy now

38:58Big red tail

38:59This is a good sized fish

39:01You can see the fish really well

39:03Going out into the current there

39:07The bigger they are, the harder they fight

39:10And this one's fighting with all its strength

39:12To get away from me

39:18The adrenaline is pumping

39:19And my brain is telling me to keep a constant tension on the line

39:22Or this fish will throw my hook

39:25OK, it's spinning, it's spinning, it's spinning

39:28It's a two-man job

39:29Bringing this Taiman in

39:31And our first attempt fails

39:34This is now difficult

39:35Because the line is round the body of the fish

39:37I've lost control of the fish

39:39I can't bring it out of the strong current

39:42Janga has to go out into the middle of the river

39:46To grab the Taiman

39:47Hopefully without getting bitten

39:50After an intense, nerve-wracking battle

39:53A very long journey that began back in my childhood

39:56Comes to an end

39:57Ha-ha-ha-ha

40:00Taiman on a fly

40:02Wow

40:04What a fish

40:05What a fish

40:06Amazing fish

40:07This is a rare beast

40:09I'm lucky to see one this big

40:13Right

40:14Oh, the size of the head on this thing

40:16Wow

40:18And look at the mouth on that

40:20And just the muscle on this

40:23Just looking at this thing now

40:24You can just tell how well adapted it is

40:26For this predatory lifestyle

40:27And this fast water

40:29Very, very streamlined body

40:30But this huge mouth

40:31And the teeth in there are just angled

40:33You know, they almost come back flat

40:34Which is why they're not immediately visible

40:37And it's even got teeth on the tongue

40:40If it sank those teeth into me

40:42It could do some damage

40:44I can feel this one still has a lot of fight left in it

40:48It's time to return it to its element

40:55What's really nice is this fish is just flexing

40:57This fish is ready to go

40:58I'm gently supporting it by

41:00The pectoral fins

41:01Just taking the weight

41:03But Jack's still holding the tail

41:04I think as soon as we let go of the tail

41:06It's going to support itself

41:07It might think for a second or two

41:08And then I think it's going to be gone

41:10Back into this fast water

41:11I was worried that I might never catch a time

41:27But I was lucky enough to catch two in the same spot

41:31To me this is also an indicator

41:34The fact that the top predator is still here

41:36Shows that this river is still alive

41:42The time being at least

41:44This is a healthy river

41:45And just what an amazing sight to see

41:48It's been the fulfilment of a long-held personal goal

41:52In a place of extraordinary harshness and beauty

41:56And it proves that the fighting spirit of Genghis Khan

41:59Is still alive and well in Mongolia

42:02It's now time for me to leave this mysterious wilderness

42:05And head back to the modern world

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