There are six weeks remaining in the 2019 Fall Mack Days Fishing Event sponsored by the Confederated Salish and Kootenai Tribes. A total of 3,401 lake trout entries have been entered so far in the event. The second weekend total was held down to 364 with 359 on Friday and 15 on Sunday. Saturday with record sustained gusting winds on the lake there were no fish entries. All anglers safely heeded the warnings issued by weather stations. The last zero taken on an event day was in the Fall 2003 Event. Fifteen entries on Sunday wasn’t the lowest day ever. The 2015 Spring Event had a 14 entry day on April 11th. The second weekend total of 364 was the lowest ever recorded since the events began in 2002. The lowest weekend record had been a 2008 Spring- April total that was 608 entries.
There is UP To $150,000 in CASH and PRIZES that will be awarded on the last day of the event November 10th. Enter one fish to get your name in the lottery drawing that begins at $1,000 and goes to $400. Several categories have prizes for all ages. Check out the rules and categories at mackdays.com or telephone 406-270-3386.
Mack Days Fishing Events are used as a management tool to reduce non-native lake trout in Flathead Lake to increase the populations of native bull trout and westslope cutthroat in the lake. Anglers receive a ticket for every lake trout entry. Bonus amounts begin with your eleventh fish entry. Fish Tuesday through Sunday until the end of the event on November 10th. Choose the days you want to fish-one day, two days, or every day.
The $10,000 tagged lady lake trout Marie Laveau is still swimming back and forth in the lake. She has all of Flathead Lake to roam in. Three $5,000, five $1,000, along with over nine thousand tagged lake trout with values from $500-$100 are also available to be caught. Lucky anglers Monte McPhearson of Silverdale WA and Jim Flinchbaugh of Kalispell caught $200 tagged lake trout during the second week. Turning in $100 tagged lake trout were Kalispell anglers Julie Perkins and Terry Krogstad.
Mike Benson of Lonepine is leading the anglers with 361 entries. He turned in 66 on Friday, 0 on Saturday, and 15 on Sunday. Scott Bombard of Missoula is second with 222 turning in 35 on Friday, 3rd Felix Gauci of Stevensville with 221-28 on Friday, Terry Krogstad of Kalispell has 183 for 4th -29 Friday, 5th Julie Perkins of Kalispell 171-29 Friday, 6th Sam Cusker of Bigfork 160-0 for the weekend, 7th Larry Ashwell of Missoula 155-28 Friday, Larry Karper of Florence is 8th with 144-12 Friday, 9th Jack Kirkland of Missoula with 142-13 Friday, 10th Bob Stewart of Kalispell with 128-35 Friday.
Julie Perkins of Kalispell is first in the Ladies Category with 171, 2nd Gina Schiff of Whitefish with 26, Laurie Kreis of Huson 3rd -18, Kim McMillie of Polson 4th -14, and Lisa Cloo of Clinton is 5th with 9.
Matt Guckenberg Jr. of Kalispell has 8 in the 13-17 age group and HD of Arlee has 3 in the 12 & Under.
Larry Ashwell is a new leader in the 70 & Over Category with 155. Larry Karper is 2nd with 144, 3rd John Gauci of Florence with 49, 4th Mike Cosby of Thompson Falls with 24, and Bernie Olson of Lakeside has 18 for 5th.
Weekend $100 awards drawn from the weekend tickets by five different fillet staff were Mike Benson X 3, Bob Stewart, and Felix Gauci.
Come out and enjoy fishing on Flathead Lake. The lake trout are fall spawners and should be moving in closer to shore areas. Jigging for them is still the choice of most anglers. Some trollers are starting to have some luck catching the lake trout also. FISH ON EVERYONE!
—cskt—
