Weather extremes mark 2020 Fall Mack Days
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FLATHEAD LAKE — The 2020 Fall Mack Days event has been one anglers won’t soon forget. This year’s event began with hot sunny weather and waters way too flat for good fishing.
Anglers were enjoying the weather but looking for a little shade to keep out of the hot sun, and then, rain, hail and unrelenting wind came with rough waters. The seventh weekend was really extreme.
Friday, Oct. 23 was cold, rough and windy but a few anglers ventured out. A total of 218 entries were turned in by wet, cold, snow-covered, tough anglers. Waves were some of the worst ever, some said.
Riding on top of a wave in a boat and looking several feet down in the trough of the wave is not good. Saturday was totally unfishable with strong gusty winds that did not let up. Lots of snow was blowing around with zero anglers for Saturday, Oct. 24.
Sunday, Oct. 25 was sunny and a little breezy but very cold. We caution all anglers to be safe, be informed of weather conditions and be prepared, always-always safety first. The minus zero degrees didn’t detour a few who went out on a bright very cold morning trying their luck at getting the elusive lake trout to bite. Sam Cusker, from Bigfork, did well on Friday with 72 entries. He was excited that the fish were finally feeding well, and his excitement sent him back out Sunday, and, of course, the old guy, Mike Benson could not stand to let Sam go out by himself so he ventured out also.
Monte McPherson, of Silverdale, Washington, was also out in Big Arm Bay. At noon, Monte reported he had 12 “nice ones” in the cooler. He ended up with 20 for the day. Cusker turned in 27 that evening and Benson had 55.
Cold weather causes a lot of issues: frozen lines and reels, ice in the boats and frozen fingers, just to name a few. Additional numbers from the stormy Friday were Terry Krogstad, of Kalispell, with 57 and partner Julie Perkins with 45. Mike Benson had 33. Tony Incashola, of St. Ignatius, had four. Zach Underwood, of Pablo, had one. Jack Kirkland, of Missoula, had two. And up on the north end of the lake, Kalispell anglers Jim Jones had one, and Connie Jones had three. Total lake trout entries for this weekend was 320.
Tagged lake trout have been caught in all areas of the lake by experienced and first-time anglers. People can’t physically see the tags. The adipose fin on these fish have been clipped. These fish are scanned when they are turned in and numbers are looked up on a computer list with values associated to tag numbers. Tagged fish caught this past week were turned in by Marty Herak, of Polson, for $100 and Mike Benson, of Lonepine, for $100. A total of 53 tagged lake trout have been turned in during the 2020 fall event. A total of 10,912 lake trout have been turned in by 127 anglers. The Monday to Thursday total was at 2,643, and the Friday to Sunday total was 8,269.
Anglers can choose to keep their catch or donate it to be processed by Blue Bay staff. Lake trout are spawning this time of year so they come in closer to shore and can be caught by shore anglers. Boat anglers are trolling, jigging and casting at this time. For more information, go to the website at www.mackdays.com. All it takes is one fish entry for you to qualify for a drawing. Entries will be taken until the last day of the event. The 2020 Fall Mack Days ends Nov. 15.
