The 2024 Fall Mack Days Fishing Event on Flathead Lake will end on November 3rd after nine weeks of lake trout fishing. Mack Days are a fish conservation tool used to decrease the non-native lake trout in Flathead Lake. The effort is sponsored by the Confederated Salish and Kootenai Tribes with Up to $200,000 in Cash and Prizes awarded at the conclusion of the event. Native fish populations (bull trout and westslope cutthroat) have decreased over the years and they are no longer the dominant fish in the lake. The native fish are important for the future of the fisheries of the lake. Eight weeks of the event are completed with a total of 16,411 lake trout entered by 145 lake trout anglers out of the 431 who have registered. Entries continue to be taken until the last day of the event. Every lake trout entry gives anglers a chance in the lottery drawings that begin at $2,000 and go to $100. There are several ways to win with different categories for all. Check out the rules, entry page, fish ID, etc. at www.mackdays.com. Fridays total was 554, Saturday 473, and Sunday 284. The event is sanctioned by Montana FWP.
“Jonny Cash” the most sought-after lake trout in the lake has a tag worth $10,000 and he is still out there somewhere waiting for an angler to find him in the deep, dark, depths of the lake. There are also 3-$5,000, 5-$1,000 and over 9,000 lake trout with tags worth $100-$500. There were several tagged lake trout turned in this past week. Mike Benson of Lonepine, Charles Horejsi-Missoula, Steve Mack-Helena, Laurie Kreis of Huson x 2, Missoula anglers-Shawn Halstad, Charles Savoia, and Larry Ashwell, Stevensville angler John Gauci, Polson’s Howard Nebaker, all had $100 tagged lake trout and Michael Powell of Ewa Beach Hawaii turned in a $200 tag.
The Top Twenty Angler category is still a race to the finish between brothers Mike and Jerry Benson. Lonepine angler Mike leads in total entries at the end of eight weeks with 1,250 but his 18-day average is below brother Jerry of Plains who has 1,231 entries and a 60.22 average. Mike has a 58.22 average. Top ten anglers are placed by their best 18 day average. Third place angler is David McDaniel of Polson with a total of 859 and 44.83, 4th Larry Ashwell of Missoula 689-32.33, 5th Terry Krogstad of Kalispell 659-33.33, 6th Jack Kirkland of Lolo 602-32.94, 7th Richard Kreis of Huson 601-30.11, 8th Patrick Casey of Townsend 513-28.0, 9th Julie Perkins of Kalispell 469-24.61, 10th Laurie Kreis of Huson 463-24.11, Larry Karper Florence is in 11th and has an average of 24.28, 12th Carey Hauser of Lakeside-405, 13th Bryan Long of Columbia Falls-326, 14th Clint Speer of Kalispell-309, 15th Felix Gauci of Stevensville-274, 16th Dan Deutschman of Fergus Falls MN-267, 17th Steve Mack of Helena-253, 18th Joe Minnehan of Kalispell-234, 19th Lyndon Lee of BC-209, and 20th Mark McMillin of Missoula-205.
Julie Perkins leads the Ladies with 469, 2nd Laurie Kreis with 463, 3rd Debby Sacchi of Thompson Falls-131, Kim Mack of Helena is 4th with 49, and Lorinda Freeman of Polson and Jolene Tatum of Missoula each have 25.
James Kuchera of Kalispell has 8 in the 13-17 age category. Blaine Helvey of Thompson Falls is 1st in the 12 & Under with 20, 2nd Paisley Helvey of Thompson Falls with 18, 3rd Linday Carter of Pablo has 3, 4th Bear Yarrow of Frenchtown with 6, and in 5th Eli Yang,-Bucky Yarrow-Tayzee Whimper of Frenchtown-Zander Oliver of Missoula all have 2, and in 6th Payton Kuchera from Kalispell has one entry.
70 and Over leader is Mike Benson with 1,250, 2nd Larry Ashwell-689, Terry Krogstad is 3rd with 659, 4th Jack Kirkland with 602, and 5th Larry Karper with 438,.
All of the competitive categories will end on Saturday November 2nd. Sunday fishing is a separate day with separate prizes. Totals will be added together for the bonus amounts. All entries are to be turned in by 3:00 on Sunday with a small awards ceremony following. The lottery drawings will be posted at that time.
Tight lines everyone. Thank you anglers!
