Spring Mack Days Extended on Flathead Lake

Just imagine hooking into what could be a $10,000 fish. Imagine the feeling of landing a fish that could possibly put you in the running for some serious prize money. Well, that feeling could be more than just your imagination. The Spring Mack Days on Flathead Lake is going on now and it has been extended.

According to the Montanaoutdoor.com

The 2020 Spring Event has been extended by the Confederated Salish and Kootenai Tribes with up to $225,000 in cash and prizes to be awarded at the conclusion of the event on June 28th. The extended event will end on June 28th making it a total of five weeks instead of the normal nine weeks. The contest began on March 20th and was suspended on March 27th out of concern over risks from COVID-19. The Confederated Salish and Kootenai Tribal Council recognized the importance of these events to the reduction of the non-native lake trout and chose to proceed cautiously with the understanding that anglers will follow strict safety protocols regarding the COVID 19 issues.

Now that restrictions are starting to lift around the state. The CS&KT are starting to ease their restrictions as well. So now lots of anglers are hitting the water in search of big money.

According to Montanaoutdoor.com

There is up to $225,000 in Cash and Prizes that will be awarded at the conclusion of the event. The tagged lake trout are still out there. There is 1-$10,000, 3-$5,000, 5-$1,000 and over 6,000 additional tagged fish with values from $500-$100. All anglers who turn in 11 or more fish qualify for bonus amounts for their totals. Every fish anglers enter gives them a chance to win in the lottery style drawing that begins at $1,000 on down to $450. Shore anglers are getting several entries in along with the boat anglers. Mack Days are a management tool used to reduce the numbers of non-native lake trout in Flathead Lake to increase native bull trout and westslope cutthroat trout. A total of 3,631 lake trout were turned in over the weekend bringing the total to 12,925 for the event so far. There were 792 on Friday, 1,475 on Saturday, and Sundays total was 1,364.