Anglers enjoy week two of Fall Mack Days event
Summer Goddard
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News from CSKT Natural Resource Department
PABLO — 2023 Fall Mack Days anglers enjoyed the second good fishing weekend of the event on Flathead Lake. Swirling winds on Thursday were mixing it up on the water keeping some anglers off the lake but the weekend fishing weather settled down and was good.
Mack Days Fishing Events are sponsored by the Confederated Salish and Kootenai Tribes and are used as one of their management tools to reduce the non-native lake trout in Flathead Lake. Bull trout and westslope cutthroat were the dominate fish of the lake for thousands of years until the lake trout population exploded in sixties. The local Tribal and non-tribal residents depended on the native fish as a healthy food source. Bull trout spawn in the Flathead River system - some making their way up past the Canadian border. They may spend their lives in the rivers or many of them come down into Flathead Lake. They are important to the history of the lake.
“After we’ve lost a natural place, it’s gone for everyone - hikers, campers, boaters, bicyclists, animal watchers, fishers, hunters, and wildlife. For this reason, it is vital that we overcome our differences, find common ground in our shared love for the natural world, and work together to defend the wild.”- Richard Nelson
There is up to $200,000 in cash and prizes that will be awarded to anglers at the conclusion of the event. Anglers are very important to the success of the events. Each lake trout entry gives them a chance to win lottery drawings or maybe catch tagged lake trout. Bonus dollars are awarded depending on the total number of lake trout entered once your total gets to eleven entries. The drawings, bonuses, and tagged fish dollars help anglers pay for the cost of going out to fish and help in this conservation effort. The event began on Sept. 14 and will end on Nov. 12. Pick the number of days you want to fish - one, two, ten, etc. There is no entry fee. Enter up until the last day.
“Ghost” the $10,000 elusive, tagged lake trout is lurking in the dark murky depths of the lake. Tagged lake trout have been released in all parts of the lake so Ghost could be anywhere moving around the lake. There are 3 - $5,000, 6 - $1,000 (including one sponsored by Bretz RV and Marine of Missoula), and over 9,000 fish with values from $100 to $500.
Eight-year-old Paisley Helvey of Thompson Falls, who had a total of five lake trout entries for that day, Kim Mack of Helena, Felix Gauci of Stevensville, Carey Hauser of Lakeside, and Mike Benson of Lonepine all turned in $100 tagged lake trout. There have been $1,000 tagged winners who only have one fish entered in the event so take a chance and try your luck.
Monday to Thursday fishing totals came to 722. Friday, Sept. 22, the fish total was 678 with Dave Myers of Riverton, Wyoming, turning in a total of 96 for the high count. Saturday’s total was 618 with Myers again having the high count with 55 lake trout entries. Sunday’s high count was Felix Gauci of Stevensville with 75 and the total count being 551 for the day. Total for the second weekend was 1,847 and total weekend count was 3,357. Final count for all days is at 4,079.
Top 10 Anglers: 1st - Dave Myers with 367, 2nd - Felix Gauci with 360, 3rd - Mike Benson-Lonepine with 295, 4th - Bob Stewart of Kalispell with 284, 5th - Larry Ashwell-of Missoula with 201, 6th - Jack Kirkland of Lolo with 200, 7th - Scott Bombard of Missoula with 155, 8th - Larry Karper of Florence with 153, 9th - Richard Kreis of Huson with 135, and 10th - Steve Mack of Helena with 131.
12 & under totals: Paisley Helvey of Thompson Falls is in 1st with 13 and Blaine Helvey of Thompson Fall is in 2nd with 12. Bear Yarrow, Holden Griffin, and Ace Whimper of Clinton each have one entry.
The Ladies are led by Laurie Kreis of Huson with 105, 2nd - Kim Mack of Helena with 58, and 3rd - Debby Sacchi of Thompson Falls has 46.
Paul Grove of Wyoming, Illinois, turned in a 141mm-(5 1/2”) small lake trout entry to take the lead in the smallest fish category. He reported the small laker was in 182’ of water. Laurie Kreis is in second with a 184mm-(7 ¼”) small laker. Small juvenile lake like the depths of the lake to evade the larger voracious eating lake trout. This is a popular category for the anglers Friday to Sunday fishing only.
Coolers are hard to handle when they are heavy with fish. Jerry Benson had some bad luck Sunday unloading his at the marina dock after a long day on the water. Someone had taken one of his tie-down ropes so he couldn’t tie the boat so it would be stable and not move. He was lifting his cooler up to the dock and the boat swung out - he missed the dock - and all of his fish went back into the lake. He was grabbing fish out of the water while leaning out from the dock and using his pole to reach some of them that were too far away to grab. Luckily, he was able to get all but three of them back into his cooler. He and a Mack Days staff person could see them at the bottom, but it was too deep to reach them. At the end of a long day that is not what you want to happen, but he felt lucky he was able to get most of them back in the cooler.
There is still no large lake trout entry in the event. The largest lake trout has to be over 36” and weigh in over 20 pounds, Friday to Sunday fishing only. Bretz RV and Marine sponsored the $500 large lake trout prize.
