Fall Mack Days begins Sept. 4
CSKT Fisheries | Lake County Leader | UPDATED 11 months, 2 weeks AGO
Blaine and Paisley Helvey of Thompson Falls show off a handsome lake trout. (Courtesy photo)
Passionate lake trout anglers will begin casting their lines and hitting the waters of Flathead Lake on Thursday, Sept. 4 – the opening day of Fall Mack Days, which continues through Nov. 2.
Nine weeks of lake trout fishing is an angler’s dream especially if they reel in the lake trout numbers like they did in the 2025 Spring Event. A catch of 60,138 fish broke all records for totals in the Spring Event. David Myers of Riverton, Wyo., turned in a record weekly total of 4,401 lake trout while Kolton Turner posted the high for Friday to Sunday of 2,320.
The record total for the fall event is 19,540, posted in 2015. David Myers holds the Monday-Sunday high with 2,780 in 2023; his Friday-Sunday total was 1,423. Totals are lower in the fall since fewer anglers fish the fall event.
Mack Days Fishing Events are sponsored by the Confederated Salish and Kootenai Tribes and are used as a tool to reduce the non-native lake trout in Flathead Lake. This is a conservation effort designed to increase the native bull trout and westslope cutthroat numbers in the lake.
The $10,000 tagged lake trout named Double D (aka Downrigger Dale) is swimming the depths of the lake. There are also three tagged at $5,000, five at $1,000, as well as more than 9,000 with $100-$500 values.
Lottery prizes from $2,000 to $100 will be drawn from the lake trout entries. Mack Days also includes prize categories for Top Anglers, Ladies, Youth, Weekend, Largest Lake Trout and Smallest Lake Trout. Head to www.mackdays.com to see prize categories and amounts listed along with the bonus chart, rules, entry page, and how to correctly ID trout.
These dollars compensate the anglers for the expense of helping in this restoration effort.
Staff from the Confederated Salish and Kootenai Tribes will pick up fish at Big Arm and Salish Point Friday through Sunday. Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks will collect fish at Somers and Wayfarers State Park; anglers can turn in fish at Blue Bay every day.
For more information, call Cindy Benson at 406-270-3386.