We have concluded our seventh week of the 2026 Fall Mack Days fishing event; this year’s event will end on November 8th. A total of 18,899 lake trout entries have been turned so far. Mack Days events are used as a tool to reduce numbers of non-native lake trout in Flathead Lake. Preserving and protecting the native fish populations of bull trout and westslope cutthroat in the lake is important to the Confederated Salish and Kootenai Tribes and Montana anglers.
The $10,000 fish is still out there! There are also tagged fish with values from $100-$5,000. Anglers have turned in a total of $4,200 in tagged fish during this fall event! Weekend tagged fish winners were; Patrick Casey $200, Mike Benson $100, John Gauci $100.
The smallest Fish competition is led by Terry Krogstad with his fish measuring 142mm. Larry Karper has also entered his small fish, measuring 144mm. Devon Bukowski small fish entry is 160mm. There have been no large fish turned in yet for the largest fish competition.
Top anglers are Terry Krogstad with 1335, Patrick Casey with 951, Clint Speer with 921, Devon Bukowski with 824, Jack Kirkland with 741, Larry Karper with 694, Richard Kreis with 670, Julie Perkins 620, David Kelch with 610, Mike Benson with 580, Larry Ashwell with 536, Felix Gauci with 494, Joe Minnehan with 416, John Gauci with 386, Bob Stewart with 312, Shaunda Albert with 306, Mike Colyer with 295, Laurie Kreis with 240, Korey Heimdahl with 184, and Paul Grove with 108.
Julie Perkins has a strong lead among the lady anglers with 620 lake trout entries, Shaunda Albert is in second with 306, third place is Laurie Kreis with 240, fourth places is Angie Marrow with 53 lake trout entries. Lincoln Gauci is leading the youth with 21, Isaac Zach is second with 5, third place is Carter Lindsay with 4 and fourth place is Royce Couture with 3. Leading the 13-17-year-old age group is Ethan Zach with 9 entries.
Entries continue to be taken until the last day of the event. Fish one day or several days. Every entry put you in the lottery drawing and gives you the chance to win. Check out the entry page, fish ID, fishing tips, etc. on the website at www.mackdays.com. If you have any questions or comments, please contact Joe Santos at joe.santos@cskt.org. Tight lines everyone!
—CSKT—
Montana's outdoor week, in your inbox at 7am Friday.