Three weeks are all that is left in the 2025 Fall Mack Days Fishing Event. It is not too late to get some entries into the lottery drawings that begin at $2,000 and go down to $100. Every lake trout entry will give you a chance at winning and you may be a lucky angler with a $10,000, $5,000, or $1,000 tagged lake trout at the end of your line!! There are also over 9,000 with $100-$500 tags. 2025 Fall Mack Days will end November 2nd.
Mack Days Fishing Events are sponsored by the Confederated Salish and Kootenai Tribes and are used as a management tool to reduce the non-native lake trout in Flathead Lake. It would be easy to forget about the native bull trout and westslope cutthroat in the lake, but this isn’t about a management plan that is easy or one to forget.
This is an on-going effort to ensure that the native fish in Flathead Lake will be here for future generations. This is about caring what happens in the lake which is one of the last strongholds for these native fish. This is about doing what is right for the Flathead ecosystem and for generations of Montana and tribal people to come. Lake trout have moved from Flathead Lake up into Glacier National Park and are affecting the ecosystems there. There are on-going efforts in the park to keep them from increasing and moving into more areas. Come out and be part of this effort to make a difference.
Weather was a little harsher during week six especially on Saturday and Sunday-Friday was a good fall fishing day. Winds, rain, and cold caused the anglers problems on Saturday and Sunday. Saturday the anglers were dealing with wind and Sunday it was wind, rain, and cold with some choosing not to go out and others not seeming to be hampered by it. Fish total for Friday was 590, Saturday 339, and Sunday 101. Final total is 12,883. Totals after six weeks in 2024 Fall-12,762, 2023-12,889, and 2022-11,253.
David Myers of Riverton WY has a total of 845 to lead the anglers in the Top Twenty Angler category-60-Friday-55-Saturday-16-Sunday. Anglers have now begun to reach the 18-day average part of the competition. Once they reach 18 days, the Top Ten Anglers are placed by that average. Their entries in the lottery are limited by the average-entries have to be above the drop day number to be entered. David now has 46.94 for an average. His lowest day is 14 fish entries. The 14 will be dropped if he comes in with more on the 19th day and he will gain lottery entries for anything over 14 and his average will move up. For instance-if he has 20-drop the 14-and 6 entries go into the lottery. 2nd Terry Krogstad of Kalispell-785-17 days-54-19-0, 3rd Larry Ashwell of Missoula 718-16 days-55-36-0, 4th Julie Perkins of Kalispell-713-17 days-64-19-0, 5th Jack Kirkland of Lolo-552-15 days64-32-0, 6th Devon Bukowski of Kalispell-545-18 days 30.28-18-17-24, 7th Patrick Casey of Townsend-510-17 days-64-32-0, 8th Michael Benson of Lonepine-400-15 days-23-25-0, 9th Lyndon Lee of Canada-383-18 days-27-32-2, 10th Bob Stewart of Kalispell-359-14 days-35-17-0. Richard Kreis of Huson is 11th with 359, 12th Janet Myers of Riverton WY-301, 13th Jerry Benson of Plains-252, 14th Larry Karper of Florence-231, 15th Laurie Kreis of Huson-230, 16th Dan Deutschman of Fergus Falls MN-200, 17th Angie Morrow of Kalispell-178, 18th Felix Gauci of Stevensville-152, 19th Steve Mack of Helena-136, and 20th Ted Stewart of Kalispell-105.
Julie Perkins is 1st in the Ladies with 713, 2nd Janet Myers-301, 3rd Laurie Kreis-230, 4th Angie Morrow-178, and 5th Shaunda Albert of Pablo-52.
12 & Under leader is Carter Lindsay of Pablo with 8 and Olivia Cottet of Polson leads the 13-17 with 5.
70 & Over Leader is Terry Krogstad with 785, 2nd Larry Ashwell-718, 3rd Jack Kirkland-552, 4th Michael Benson-400, and 5th Jerry Benson-252.
Weekend Winners-$200-Larry Karper, $100-Lyndon Lee, Patrick Casey, Korey Hemdahl of Kalispell, and David Myers.
There are several ways to win in the different categories and in the lottery drawings. You can fish one day or several. Entries continue to be taken until the last day of the event. Bonus dollars are paid as your total number of lake trout entries goes up. Check out the bonus chart on the website www.mackdays.com.
Lake trout with $100 tags were turned in by: Steve Mack, Stephanie Mix of Stevensville, and Richard Kreis. The 2nd day of the Bucket of Fish competition was won by Jens Gran of Polson with a bucket of four lake trout under 30” that weighed in at 29.05. Michael Benson was 2nd with 28.75, 3rd Larry Karper with 22.7, 4th Richard and Laurie Kreis 19.25, and 5th Stephanie Mix with 19.15.
The last day of the Bucket of Fish will be Sunday October 26th. $200 goes to winning bucket each day of the competition. Go to the website www.mackdays.com for information, entry page, fish ID, rules, etc.
Reminder to always be careful out on the water. Have all safety equipment on board and keep a close eye on the weather.
–CSKT–
Feature photo from a previous year tournament via MackDays.com
