2025 Fall Mack Days anglers on Flathead Lake are getting to the halfway mark of this Fall Fishing Event. Mack Days Fishing Events are sponsored by the Confederated Salish and Kootenai Tribes and are sanctioned by Montana Fish, Wildlife, and Parks. There are several ways to win and the anglers are vying for spots in the Top Twenty placings, lottery prizes ($2000 to $500), bonus dollars ($ go up as your total of fish goes up), and tagged lake trout plus several other categories. It is not too late to enter and get involved in this fish conservation effort to reduce non-native lake trout in Flathead Lake. Come on out and try your luck at catching lake trout in Flathead Lake-you may be a winner in the lottery drawings or maybe you will hook one of the high-dollar tagged lake trout.
Where’s the lake trout with a pit tag that identifies him as Double D (Downrigger Dale)? The value on Double D’s tag is $10,000. There are also 3-$5,000, and 5-$1,000 along with over 9,000 with values from $100-$500. Tag winners during the 4th week were: Kody Sloane-Helena $100 X 2, Justin Bair-Dillon $100, Larry Ashwell-Missoula-$100, and Steve Mack of Helena-$200. Entries are taken until the last day of the event. Downrigger Dale from the Montana Outdoor Radio Show would love to see his namesake caught by some lucky angler! He has done pod casts on the show to give anglers tips and tricks on catching lake trout during the events.
The 2024 Fall Event total at four weeks in was 8,780 with 1,725 Mon-Thurs fish and 7,055 Fri-Sun. Currently total for 2025 Fall is at 9,575 lake trout entries with 7,294 Fri to Sun and 2,281 Mon-Thurs.
The lake trout are moving into their spawning mode and some anglers are finding them in the shallower waters while trolling or casting. Other anglers are still targeting the deep-water areas and jigging for the elusive smaller fish. There are reports of thousands of small yellow perch in some areas that the lakers are feeding on. The warm temperatures are making for good days on the water but the mornings are starting to cool and that may change the way the fish are biting. Talk to local bait shop or tackle dealers to find out what types of jigs or lures are working the best for catching and getting a lake trout on the end of the line. Monday thru Thursday all fish are to be entered at Blue Bay before 6:00pm. Friday-Sunday at Blue Bay up until ½ hr before dark. There are also fish pickups done at Big Arm State boat ramp, Salish Point boat ramp, Somers State boat ramp, and Wayfarers State boat ramp in Bigfork. Times are listed on the website www.mackdays.com along with fishing tips, safety tips, events stats, entry page, fish ID, etc. Anglers can keep their catch or donate their fish to be processed by tribal staff.
Dan Deutschman of Fergus Falls MN (formerly of Missoula) still has the largest lake trout entry. His lake trout measured 40.25” and weighed in at 28.65 lbs. He was surprised when he saw that the lake trout was hooked on the fly instead of the jig when he finally got the big laker in the boat. He and Larry Ashwell of Missoula-his fishing buddy were shocked that it stayed hooked to the fly. It was hooked right where the thick part of the pelvic fin attaches to the body and it took some effort to remove it. Anglers are reminded to have hand scales on their boat to weigh any large fish so they know if it might be a contender to unseat Dan’s lake trout. Most Mack Days anglers don’t want large fish on the line. The large fish cost them time-releasing them correctly takes time (large fish usually have air that puff them up) getting them to burp and go back down can be difficult-plus they cause tangled lines that take time to get untangled and back in the water. Bonus dollars in the event are paid as the angler’s totals go up. Catching smaller lake trout usually brings in more fish per day so their bonus totals go up faster plus cooler space is not taken up by larger fish. Smallest lake trout entries are Ryker Bair’s 124mm small lake trout (5”) and Larry Karpers 130mm (5.25”) lake trout.
Terry Krogstad of Kalispell has pulled ahead of David Myers of Riverton WY by twenty entries in the Top Angler category. Terry has a total of 619 and David is at 599. Larry Ashwell of Missoula is in 3rd with 535, 4th Julie Perkins of Kalispell with 516, 5th Devon Bukowski of Kalispell with 403, 6th Jack Kirkland of Lolo with 382, 7th Patrick Casey-Townsend with 350, 8th Lyndon Lee of Canada with 328, 9th Mike Benson of Lonepine 266, 10th Bob Stewart of Kalispell 264, 11th Janey Myers-Riverton WY 217, 12th Richard Kreis-Huson 214, 13th Larry Karper-Florence 191, 14th Jerry Benson-Plains 175, 15th Laurie Kreis-Huson 164, 16th Felix Gauci-Stevensville 152, 17th and 18th Angie Morrow-Kalispell and Dan Deutschman-Fergus Falls MN 138, 19th Steve Mack-Helena 111, and 20th Ted Stewart-Kalispell 105.
Carter Lindsay of Pablo has turned in 8 lake trout entries so far to lead the 12 & Under category and Olivia Cottet has 5 in the 13-17 category.
Julie Perkins is 1st in the Ladies category with 516, 2nd Janet Myers-217, 3rd Laurie Kreis-164, 4th Angie Morrow-138, and 5th Shaunda Albert of Ronan with 42.
Weekend winners were: $200-Devon Bukowski and $100-Terry Krogstad, Justin Bair-Dillon, Larry Ashwell, and Steve Mack.
Come and enjoy the outdoors on this beautiful lake. Help with this effort and maybe you will be a lucky winner in the drawings or even catch a tagged fish. We remind everyone to be alert to changes in the weather and have safety equipment on board.
Tight lines everyone!
-cskt-
Feature photo via MackDays.com
