2024 Fall Mack Days on Flathead Lake continues on until November 3rd. Anglers just completed the third week of the nine-week event. Mack Days Fishing Events are sponsored by the Confederated Salish and Kootenai Tribes with UP TO $200,000 in CASH and PRIZES to be awarded at the conclusion of the event. There are many ways to win in the event from being in the Top Angler group to winning lottery drawings. Check out the website at www.mackdays.com for information, entry, fishing tips, etc.
A total of 6,723 lake trout entries have been entered so far in the event. Fridays total was 504, Jerry Benson of Plains had the high count of 87, Saturday’s count was 820 and Terry Krogstad of Kalispell had a high of 74 also the Kreis boat from Huson had a total of 101 between Laurie-51 and Richard-50. Sunday’s total was 893, with Mike Benson bringing in the first 100 limit of the event. The Weekday total came to 1162. On Monday, Terry turned in a high of 36, on Tuesday Lyndon Lee of Canada turned in 6, on Wednesday Patrick Casey of Townsend turned in 9, and on Thursday Jerry Benson turned in 74 lake trout entries.
Flying fishing lines were plentiful throughout the weekend beginning on Friday, with the first of the Bucket Days. Beautiful fall weather Friday through Sunday with some breezy times causing some rough water, especially Friday but there was sunshine all weekend! Several anglers were vying for the heaviest bucket of four lake trout. Winner at the end of the day was Rick Skates of Big Arm with a 29.65 lb. bucket=10 pts. Second place goes to Jens Gran of Polson with 25.4lbs.=8 pts, 3rd place was Richard and Laurie Kreis from Huson 24.5lbs.=6 pts, 4th place was Mike Benson of Lonepine 20.2lbs.=4 pts, and 5th place was Cole Williams of Kalispell 17.8lbs.=2 pts. There are two more Bucket of Fish Days-Saturday October 5th and Sunday October 20th. Winner of each Bucket Day receives $200. Overall award is by total points after the three days. Tie is broken by total weight.
Total anglers registered in the Fall 2024 Event is at 341 anglers. The majority of anglers have Montana addresses with a few sprinkled in from Texas, Washington, Illinois, Florida, Oregon, North Dakota, Minnesota, and California! Entries continue to be taken until the last day of the event November 3rd. This is a fish conservation effort to reduce the numbers of lake trout and increase the populations of native bull trout and westslope cutthroat in Flathead Lake. Fish all of Flathead Lake.
Johnny Cash” is still waiting around the bend for someone—he is the $10,000 lake trout. Everyone would love to have him at the end of the line. Tagged fish caught over the 3rd week were: $100 tags-Larry Karper of Florence and Steve Mack of Helena. “There are also 3-$5,000, 5-$1,000 and over 9,000 with values from $100-$500. Twelve tagged lake trout have been caught so far in the event.
Leading the anglers is Michael Benson of Lonepine with 599 lake trout entries-Fri 50, Sat 54, and Sun 100. Mike and brother Jerry Benson fishing in separate boats and in different areas of the lake, they flipped back and forth over the weekend for the first-place spot. Mike was in first Friday, Jerry was leading at the end of Saturday, and Mike took back first on Sunday. Jerry turned in 87,65, & 68 for the weekend. Placings can change fast with daily 100 fish limits on the lake. If you have a good day your fish count will move you up quickly. David McDaniel of Polson is 3rd with 358-32,50, & 69, 4th Richard Kreis of Huson 309-31,50,49, 5th Terry Krogstad of Kalispell 303-19,74,46, 6th Larry Karper of Florence 301-7,64,29, 7th Jack Kirkland of Lolo 300-23,41,33, 8th Larry Ashwell of Missoula 264-32,30,30, 9th Laurie Kreis of Huson 258-9,51,44, 10th Felix Gauci of Stevensville 245-0,40,29. The 11th-20th placings are: 11th Julie Perkins of Kalispell with 149, 12th Patrick Casey of Townsend 136, 13th Paul Grove of Wyoming IL 121, 14th Dan Deutschman of Fergus Falls MN 118, 15th Bryan Long of Columbia Falls 115, 16th Mark McMillin of Missoula 110, 17th Joe Minnehan of Kalispell 86, 18th Carey Hauser Lakeside 80, 19th Nate Dieterich Kalispell 72, and 20th Steve Mack of Helena 69.
Laurie Kreis is leading the fantastic fishing Ladies with 258, Julie Perkins is 2nd with 149, 3rd Lorinda Freeman of Polson 25, 4th Debbi Sacchi of Thompson Falls 19, and Jolene Tatum and Jenny Perth of Missoula each have 10.
12 & Under-Zander Oliver of Missoula has 2, Eli Yang, Bucky Yarrow, Bear Yarrow, and Tayzee Whimper each have 2, Payton Kuchera of Kalispell has 1. 13-17 Category-James Kuchera of Kalispell with 8.
Fishing tip of the week from our website wwwmackdays.com- Ask yourself this question. Think of the last big tournament you heard about. Now think about who won the tournament. Go read the press release again if you need to refresh your memory. Now think, did the guy who won that tournament win that tournament from reading a fishing report online, reading a magazine article, using his buddies’ baits, or using what he heard worked in the last tournament? 9 out of 10 times, that is not the case. The guys at the top of this game write their own books. They do things the way they do it based on their instincts, using their methodologies that they’ve developed and fine-tuned over years of experience. Sure, they might be using the same lure as half the rest of the field, but it’s not just the lure that catches the fish. It’s the rod, the reel, the line, the lure, the cast, the retrieve, the shake of the rod tip, EVERYTHING combined that catches the fish. And the more unique you can be, the more successful you will be. By Rob Belloni—Writing Your Own Book. Check out his story at www.mackdays under the misc. page. Good reading with lots of great information.
Good luck and tight lines everyone!
—CSKT—
