Up to $225,000 in Cash and Prizes sponsored by the Confederated Salish and Kootenai Tribes will be awarded in the 2024 Spring Mack Days Fishing Event on Flathead Lake. Nine weeks of lake trout fishing will begin Thursday March 14th and will end on Saturday May 11th. It is an angler’s best dream. Fishing Flathead Lake for as many days as they can. Anglers can choose their days to fish-some fish one, two, or several days, and others try to fish every single day of the event. Every lake trout turned in gives the anglers a chance to win in the lottery prizes that begin at $2,000 and go down to $100 plus there are many more categories to qualify in. Bonus amounts are awarded to every angler who turns in eleven or more entries. The amounts go up as the total entries go up. There is a $10,000 tagged lake trout, (3) $5,000, and (6) $1,000 plus over 9,000 with tags valued at $100 to $500. One of the $1,000 tagged lake trout is sponsored by Bretz RV and Marine of Missoula. You can fish every day Monday to Sunday. There are different categories for the Monday to Thursday entries and the Friday to Sunday entries. Anglers can donate their catch to be processed or they can choose to keep their catch. Daily limit on Flathead Lake is 100 lake trout under 30” or 99 under and 1 over 36 inches that may qualify for the largest and heaviest lake trout over 36 inches. It must weigh in 20 pounds or over. The $500 prize is also sponsored by Bretz RV and Marine of Missoula. Entries are taken until the last day of the event but we encouraged anglers to get them in and be qualified for one $200 prize chosen from the early-March 13th deadline- entries.
Mack Days.com website is nor up and running at this time and will not be until the end of the event so all updates and announcements will have to be made by e mail and news articles. Entries will be taken by email-send your name, address, and age if 70 or over to cindy.benson@cskt.org, telephone them in to 406-270-3386, or enter at Blue Bay after the event begins.
Copies of the rules and entry page will be available at local sporting goods vendors, Montana FWP offices, CSKT NRD offices, or we will be happy to send them by email.
We encourage participation in the event for anyone who loves to fish! Come out and test your skills reeling in lake trout and maybe you will have a winning tagged fish or a winning lottery entry fish on the end of your fishing line. All it takes is one lake trout entry to qualify for one of the many prizes. The CSKT Fisheries Program goal for Mack Days contests on Flathead Lake is to slowly reduce the smaller sized lake trout in the population to increase the native bull trout and westslope populations. The goal is not to completely eliminate the lake trout population, but to find a better balance between a recreational fishery based largely on lake trout and healthier native trout-bull trout and westslope cutthroat populations. Be sure and know how to ID the native fish.
See you on the lake!
(Feature photo via Mack Days)
