Fall Mack Days tourney starts Friday

The 2015 Fall Mack Days fishing tournament starts this weekend, kicking off 45 days of competitive angling on Flathead Lake.

The popular fishing event is hosted twice a year by the Confederated Salish and Kootenai Tribes as a management tool to reduce non-native lake trout and conserve federally protected bull trout, which are threatened by competition and predation from the introduced species.

Angers will hit the water Friday with the goal of racking up the biggest count of lake trout caught by Nov. 15. Fish caught Friday through Sunday each weekend count toward lottery tickets, bonus dollars and tagged fish prizes, while lake trout reeled in during the week count for bonuses and tagged fish prizes only.

Up to $150,000 in cash and prizes is available. According to the Mack Days organizers, contestants from as far away as Trinidad, California, will be participating this year.

Thousands of tagged fish worth $100 to $10,000 will be swimming in the lake, and each fish turned in by an angler earns them a ticket for the Nov. 15 lottery drawing. Two drawings also will be held each weekend for $300 and $200. Prizes for captains, ladies, seniors, largest and smallest lake trout and other special categories will be awarded.

Because the tournament’s intention is to aid recovery of native bull trout in the lake’s ecosystem, tournament organizers stress that anglers educate themselves on the difference between bull and lake trout to avoid accidental bull trout mortality.

Fish identification handouts will be available at the Mack Days check-in station.

For more information, call 406-270-3386 or visit the Mack Days website at www.mackdays.com.