Mack Days starts up again
2010 Fall Mack Days began Oct. 1 and ends Nov. 14.
The 21-day fishing event is held for seven weekends on Fridays, Saturdays, and Sundays.
Mack Days is sponsored by the Confederated Salish and Kootenai Tribes and sanctioned by Montana Fish, Wildlife, and Parks.
The fishing event is used as a tool by fisheries managers to slowly reduce the numbers of non-native lake trout and increase numbers of native bull trout and westslope cutthroat trout in Flathead Lake.
The event lures angers from Montana and several other states who are putting their angling skills to work.
Lottery prizes from $200 to $1,000 are available along with the chance to catch tagged lake trout that may be worth $100 to $5,000.
One elusive lake trout has a tag that has a value of $5,000 and five others have values of $1,000. More than 2,000 have tags are worth $100 to $500.
Entries continue to be taken until the last day of the event. Information can be found at www.mackdays.com or by calling 883-2888, extension 7294.
For the first weekend of Fall Mack Days, anglers turned in a total of 1,726 fish, compared to 644 lake trout a year earlier.
Top anglers for the first weekend were:
Michael Benson, Hot Springs, 122; Roger Dilts, Polson, 112; Phil Meredith, Kalispell, 76; Steven Benson-Four Lakes, Columbia Falls, 66; Stephen Naethe, Pablo, 64; Marty Noyd, Missoula, 63; David McDaniels, Polson, 54; Max Martz, Hamilton, 48; and Brandt Hammernick, Missoula, 48.
Lady anglers in the top five are Susanne Albrecht, Polson, 31, Cindy L. Benson, Columbia Falls, 24, Kim McMillie, Polson, 22, Nicole Peters, Missoula, 21, and Cindy Upwell, Kalispell, 14.
Youth anglers are lead by Eric Sams, Polson, 16, Benton Spears, Ravalli and Landon Lynch, Ronan, 3, Linnea Madsen, Hannah Madsen, Polson, Jake Wilson, Kalispell, and Cole Gilleard, St. Ignatius turned in one fish each over the weekend.
Tagged fish with values of $100 each were turned in by Wes Shockley, Plains, Bill Violette, Missoula, Don Peters, Missoula, Shawn Madsen, Polson, Scott Bombard, Missoula, Roger Schiff, Whitefish, and Eric Sams, Polson.
Smallest lake trout turned in is a 227mm fish Benton Adams, Ravalli caught on Sunday. Second place is currently held by Brandt Hammernick, Missoula at 235mm.
The 2009 Fall Event total at the end of the 1st weekend totaled 644 lake trout compared to 1,726 for the 2010 Fall Event total. There were more fish turned in overall because of the beautiful weather.
Autumn is here but you would never know it with the temperatures being in the high 70’s and lower 80’s over the weekend. Fishing was a number one priority for most but some swimming was also enjoyed over the weekend by many. Warmer temperatures seemed to have dispersed the fish after cooler weather the week before and reports of concentrations of lake trout and high catch rates.
The first weekend fishing the event reports were that the fishing was a little spottier with lower numbers by many anglers. The 2009 Fall Event total at the end of the 1st weekend totaled 644 lake trout compared to 1,726 for the 2010 Fall Event total. There were more fish turned in overall because of the beautiful weather.