One week is all that is left of the 2023 Fall Mack Days Fishing Event on Flathead Lake. Up to $200,000 in Cash and Prizes sponsored by the Confederated Salish and Kootenai Tribes will be awarded on the last day of the event November 12th. There will be no fish fry-but there will be a small awards ceremony and lottery drawing winners will be posted at 3:00. All fish entries need to be turned in at Blue Bay by 3:00. There will be no fish pickups on the last day!
Total lake trout entries for the 2023 Fall Mack Days event are 15,934. The total fish entered Fridays through Sundays are 12,423. Monday through Thursday totals are 3,511 entries. Last Friday’s total entries were 443, Saturday’s entries were 568, and Sunday entries were 355, for a weekend total of 1,366.
The “Ghost” has not been caught! The $10,000 tagged lake trout is still in the lake lurking in the depths of the lake. There are also 3-$5,000 evasive tagged lake trout and six $1,000 tagged fish, one sponsored by Bretz RV and Marine that are pretty skilled at evading the anglers. There are over 9,000 tagged lake trout with values from $100 to $500.
Turning in $100 tagged lake trout the past week were Jens Gran of Polson X 2, Larry Ashwell of Missoula, Richard Kreis of Huson X 2, Joshua Wisniewski of Missoula, Michael Benson of Lonepine, Marty Herak of Polson, and a $200 tagged fish was turned in by Jack Kirkland of Missoula.
David Myers of Riverton, WY is still holding on to the lead going into the final week. He has a total of 1,314 lake trout entries in the Friday to Sunday category which is what counts for the Top Twenty Anglers. He also has fished the Monday to Thursday days of the event for a total of fifty-three straight days of Mack Days fishing, which does not account for the few days he fished before the event began! His total so far is 2,513 lake trout entries. His first Mack Days Event was the 2021 Spring event, he only participated for two weeks and had a total of 119 Friday to Sunday days. He became addicted, after entering his third event in 2023 Spring and decided he was going to come back and fish the whole event someday when he retired, this is his fourth event. David’s 18-day average is 61.33, his Friday total is 48, Saturday 62, and Sunday 70.
Second place and not too far behind is Felix Gauci of Stevensville with 1,088-58.72 avg. 63, 62, & 102, 3rd place is Michael Benson of Lonepine with 1,084-51.5 avg. 58, 56, & 41, 4th place is Bob Stewart of Kalispell 980-46.67 avg. 25, 48, & 45, 5th place is Jerry Benson 735-37.33 avg. 29, 38, & 30, 6th place is Larry Ashwell of Missoula 688-33.89 avg. 47, 38, & 16, 7th place is Larry Karper of Florence 598-32.17 avg. 31, 49, & 3, 8th place is Jack Kirkland of Lolo 616-31.67, 9th place is Richard Kreis of Huson 511-24.33 avg, 10th place is Scott Bombard of Missoula 436-22.22 avg., 11th place is Terry Krogstad of Kalispell-371, 12th place is Laurie Kreis of Huson-293, 13th place is Claude Kaber of Whitefish-267, 14th place is Steve Mack-Helena with 221, 15th place is Sam Sacchi of Thompson Falls-215, 16th place is Byan Long of Kalispell-186, 17th place is Julie Perkins of Kalispell 179, 18th place is Jim Flinchbaugh of Kalispell 177, 19th place is Joe Minnehan of Kalispell-144, and 20th place is Debby Sacchi of Thompson Falls-143.
The Top Ten Anglers will be placed by their 18 day average, If, an angler does not have 18 days-they can use a zero count to make 18 days and if their average is better than someone with 18 days they will move up.
Laurie Kreis of Huson leads the Ladies with 293 lake trout entries, 2nd place is Julie Perkins of Kalispell with 179, and 3rd place is Debby Sacchi of Thompson Falls with 143 entries. Blaine Helvey and Paisley Helvey of Thompson Fall lead in the 12 & under with 18 lake trout entries each. Lucia Savoia of Missoula is the lone entry in the 17 & Over with 11 entries.
The Bucket of Fish Days are finished with Jens Gran of Polson turning in the heaviest bucket at 26.95 lbs., Michael Benson was 2nd with 25.35, 3rd was Larry Ashwell at 23.2, 4th place was Calvin Dee of Missoula at 17.6, and 5th place was Richard Kreis at 16.8lbs. Rick Skates and Jens Gran tied for 1st overall with 18 points each. Ties are broken by total weight. Each had two bucket weights over the three days of the competition. Rick won with his total of 59.75 lbs. and Jens came in 2nd with a weight of 51.35. The Kreis boat took third place with 16 points overall. Bucket fish have to be under 30 inches-anglers heaviest four fish go in the bucket. There is one each of Friday, Saturday, and Sunday days of the bucket weights.
Smallest lake trout entries are Paul Groves with a 141mm lake trout entry and Felix Gauci and Jerry Benson are tied with 145mm lake trout entry.
The large lake trout continue to win the battles on the lake. They just don’t cooperate when it comes to getting in the boat. No entries so far. Several reports of big ones on the line but no hunkers landed yet.
It is not too late to register and get some entries in the lottery drawings. Enter at any time even on the last day.
Keep informed of weather information, have proper safety equipment on board, be safe out there! For any questions contact Cindy Benson at (406) 270-3386, email entries to cindy.benson@cskt.org.
Good luck and tight lines everyone!
—CSKT—
