Sanders County Ledger - Your Best Source For Sanders County News

The 2020 Fall Mack Days Fishing Event on Flathead Lake is just around the corner, and begins September 8th. The fall event, sponsored by the Confederated Salish and Kootenai Tribes (CSKT), will end on November 15.

This year’s Fall Mack Days event has been extended two weeks longer than the regular Fall Event, due to the shortened spring event because of coronavirus concerns. The number of lake trout harvested was not as high as anticipated during the spring event. The Tribal Fisheries Program feels that it’s important to reach the annual estimated number of lake trout needed to help reduce the lake trout population within Flathead Lake, therefore the decision was made to extend the 2020 Fall event.

Mack Days Fishing Events are used as a fisheries management tool to reduce non-native lake trout in Flathead Lake and increase the native bull trout and westslope cutthroat trout.

Preserving the native fish is important to the history of the Confederated Salish and Kootenai Tribes and the state of Montana. The native fish of the lake were the dominant fish of the lake for thousands of years before the non-native lake trout were introduced and their population exploded.

Participation from anglers is very important to that success and the continuation of these events. Using these events as a tool to give anglers the opportunity to help native fish numbers increase for future generations. We do require that all anglers follow social distancing guidelines and other specific safety measures that will be posted on the website and on entry forms, CSKT stated in a press release.

Headquarters for the event will be at Blue Bay. Lake trout can be turned in from 10 a.m. until dark or 9 p.m., whichever comes first. Fish pickups will be done at Big Arm State Boat Ramp, Salish Point, Somers State Boat Ramp and Wayfarer State Boat Ramp. The Confederated Salish and Kootenai Tribes have a special yearly fishing permit for the south half of Flathead Lake available to anglers from anywhere. Boats coming in from out of the Flathead Basin are required to be inspected for aquatic invasive species.

For more information, go to mackdays.com.