flathead lake

[um04]

what was said at the meeting?

[Neptune]

Aaron, I too made it to the meeting I was sitting right in front of Don..the guy who suggested the Largemouth...  I don't believe introducing another species en mass (Largemouth are already present in the lake)is going to solve the problem...  And with that I'm not sure there really is a problem.  You were there you heard everyones belief that the numbers of fish have dropped dramatically.  What really bothers me is that FWP and CSKT have a prime source of information, Charter boats, that they are choosing to completely ignore.  Well maybe not completely, they are paying them lip service and performing the requisite CYA meetings but not actually using them to the advantage of the entire lake.  That kind of pisses me off!!!  The holier than thou attitude with regards to understanding of the biology of that lake has got to stop and we can help slow this train down.

If you read this and have an opinion, suggestion, gripe, want, etc.  the tribe and the state are forced to go through NEPA and MEPA processes respectively and through those processes there will be ample opportunity for public input and comment.  Please, if this fishery means anything to you make your voice heard and attend any meeting your can and/or write you comments to the committees that handle these two processes.  When the process is formalized either myself or someone else will most assuredly post the needed info on here and on MFF(open water board).

My personal belief is that the tribe and state's method of statistical analysis is flawed.  During the meeting there was a statement brought up about the difference in studies with regards to ratios of Macks to Bull Trout.  The tribes most recent study stated there was a 100:1 ratio, where as the FWP study stated 7:1....which is right.  CSKT Biologist Barry Hansen stated that both surveys were done correctly but the State survey was biased toward Bull trout....My question is even with a bias how can those ratio's be so very different???   Just goes to show that statistics can be manipulated to say what ever you want them to...  For me I believe the men who depend on that fishery for their livelihood! 

Please stand up and be heard on this issue, the biologist screwed this up once before its time to leave well enough alone!

[jimmerjammer]

    I am not a native Montanan, but have been here for a few years, and would like to put my 2 cents in.  Like Neptune said, Statistics can be manipulated so easily, that whenever you here a statement of ratios or percentages, you really have to wonder what the agenda is behind those numbers and who they came from. Statistical studies like this are so political, especially when it is between two soveriegn entities like the tribe and state, not to mention how expensive they are. It is about power and money, not what is best for the sportsman.
     I am all for the native fish. I prefer to catch cuts whenever i fish for trout, and i am somewhat on the enviromentalist's side of the bull trout battle... that being said, it is nice to have a few lakes that have a mixed diversity of species, and a premier lake trout lake is not too common. Most of the lakes in my area are all trout (cuts & rainbows), and the rivers too, so it is nice every now and then to go for something different. To me it seems wastefull to kill all those fish, especially with the size of Flathead lake. i admit i do not know everything... lol.... about this issue, but it seems to me if the main concern is the native fish, then introducing another non-native will only create the same or more problems in the future.
  Would walleye have any effect in managing the lake trout fry population? if so, i put my vote in for them, there is not a single place in western montana to catch them, and i think flathead has the potential to be an amazing walley fishery.

[Quantoson]

I cooked these up for the wife last fall, I do not eat fish.  She loves rainbow, (especially the way Neptune smokes them up) but dislikes the Macs.  Apparently the Macs have a fishy rancid taste.  When I filleted them, white spots started to seep out of the fillet.  I figured it was fat.

So the next time, I smoked them, and had tin foil under them to prevent too much darkening.  The foil caught all the oil, orange/reddish color, smelled real strong.  Still the wife said they aren't worth the charcoal.  I wondered if the oil was pure omega3???   I poured the oil into a coffee can and the flies and wasps avoided it.  

So there may be a market for this Mac oil.  As insect repellent.

Who eats Macs??  I say stock the Flathead Lake with Mermaids! That may change my fresh water catch eating habits!

[hamachi51]

I eat them and think they are delicious.  Just clean them, wrap in foil and bake.  Taste just like trout to me. 

[Hook them Lipps]

I like to smoke lakers.  They are fatty but after smoking them they are really good.  Everyone I know likes them too.  I put just salt and brown sugar in the brine(24 hours) and then I put honey on them once they start to smoke.  I smoke them at about 125 degrees for most of the time and let the fat cook off them and then at about 150 for the last hour.  I wish flathead would freeze over so I could get some.  My boat is put away for the winter.

[Hook them Lipps]

Anyone have a spot in there boat for mac fishing on Flathead?  I have all my own stuff and will help out with gas.  I am also interested in doing spring mac days.  Very dedicated fisherman!!
[email protected]

[Aaron072]

hook them lipps
you could always try from shore at west shore state park as far as mack days you could give me a call not sure about schedule yet and my boat is small but it does the trick 90 percent of the time its just me and my 2 year old         885-3329   [email protected]

[PerchAssault]

I am SO glad to see/hear all this talk about Flathead!  According to the Tom McDonals of the CSKT, they dont want to net, but they are committed to reducing the lake trout numbers.  Great!  I firmly believe that with some tweaks, the current plan using angkers can work...(year round bounty, pay the tagged fish from Mack Days year round...etc.)

So, sign up for the derby, www.mackdays.com.  Even if you only fish once, SIGN UP and lets show them the angler interest is there!

I will be working with MoFisch Charters to see about some good rates for guys who want to charter a boat to strictly fish the mack days events. We will probably be working out some deals to make it easy for 5-6 guys to get together and fish all day on one or more of our boats.

Stay posted right here and I will keep you all informed.  Maybe we can even get a Team Ice Shanty group started...make some money, have some fun and help the fishery...Cant go wrong there.

[fishawn]

Aaron072 & Perchassau,

Hey,

I've been following these post for the last couple weeks and all the talk has gotten me excited to give Flathead a shot this spring for some lakers. I just sent a few buddies the link to the tournament website to get a feel for who might be interested in going over there and the response has been really good. They have put me in charge of doing research over there since we all will be venturing over from Bozeman and even as far as Billings and have yet to even fish it or even know what it's all about. I figured since you both are excited about this whole topic I might be able to pick your brain via email so I don't clutter up the ice fishing posts with spring boat fishing. I saw you (Aaron072) already posted your email. Would it be ok if I contact you with a few questions on where and what to use that time of year. Perchassau, same question to you?
Thanks fellas, I would love to get over there and enjoy some great fishing on a beautiful lake.

[Aaron072]

fishawn feel free i think i even put my number on the post

[PerchAssault]

Fishawn,

We will get you headed in the right direction..if putting you on top of the fish with the right lures is OK

Ask away via email and between Aaron and I we will get you hooked up.  Make sure you get signed up for the derby, or you can also sign up at the check in stations when you enter your fish.  They make it REAL easy to participate.

[email protected]

[Aaron072]

fishawn
e-mails down till tomorrow or the next day can receive but not send phone company's changed and screwed it up for starters i'd look into some good quality braided line with flourocarbon leader(i put 10 feet of leader) and lots of anchor rope. that is if you plan to jig.If your looking to troll mike is your guy. But you will probably be jigging anywhere from 80 -200' of water  I would also suggest some good quality rods and reels. If you get a chance check out zimmer tackle out of pablo zimmertackle.com he makes some of the best jigs around for the macs he also is very helpful about where they are hitting and always eager to give information out. Most of my fishing is around painted rocks to elmo bay with a lot of it being around wildhorse and cromwell islands. as you can tell i'm not shy about giving out information like some people are my favorite jig and bait would probably be a 3" glow in the dark bass tube with maple syrup flavored sausage as bait.As soon as i get out and try it will let you know more

[PerchAssault]

even better, give Dick Zimmer a call and invite him out with you!  He will come along, brings lots of good tackle and spike your learning curve big time.  Great guy and they don't call him "The Mac Man" for nothing!!

[Aaron072]

even better, give Dick Zimmer a call and invite him out with you!  He will come along, brings lots of good tackle and spike your learning curve big time.  Great guy and they don't call him "The Mac Man" for nothing!!

Dicks phone number is 1-406-675-0068

[fishawn]

Dicks phone number is 1-406-675-0068

No problem Aaron, you got to love technology. Sounds like you both know this Dick very well and he's a cool cat. I'll definitely swing by his shop on the way up. I always am willing to help out local businesses, but in this case he'll be helping me a ton. I'm getting consistent information from both of you guys on jigging so that's what I'm going to focus on. I appreciate the honest info, others that are tight lipped can suck it, that's not what this site is all about. Granted secret holes are found by hard work and those remain secret, but general information about locations, tackle, and techniques will always be something I'm more than willing to pass along to fellow fisherman.
Quick question about anchor rope, Assault said 400' of rope which sound like it would sink my bow! I googled "anchor rope" and prices fall around $150 for 300' of 1/2" braided. Is the need for such a long rope for dropping ahead of the fish and drifting back to them? Do you guys use a large orange bouy to pull the anchor when your moving spots. Just an Alaskan trick I did when my dad constantly made me pull 200' of anchor & rope up when I was a kid fishing for halibut. Pretty slick system that uses the boat to do al lthe work.

[Nerka]

wondering what type of setup you guys use when fishing from shore for lakers.  also is it worth it to try fishing from shore for other species?--(whitefish or perch, etc)

thanks in advance.

[Aaron072]

for lakers i use a gamakatsu sixe 4/0 extra wide gap offset shank hook with a slip weight up about 12 inches and then bait with cutbait or sausage. i've tried 2 hooks but lost too many because of one hook grabbing a rock. bring lots of tackle because you'll need it. as far as whitefish never caught one from shore. perch we've caught in summer with kids

[PerchAssault]

Fishawn,

For big waters, with current or not, you really should have anywhere between 3-7 feet of rope length for every foot of depth.  With the wind on Flathead, you want a minimum of 3 feet for every one foot of depth.  I know it seems like overkill, but check google for "anchor scope"  or army corp of engineers for anchor techiniques.  I recommend at least 400 feet because even on a calm day that will barely keep you on anchor over 150' depth, especially with a large boat like your ducky.  believe me, when you are fighting the anchor when the fish are biting, but you cant stay on top of them, you will wish you spent the money.  If you have the canvas enclosure, most spring days will blow you around like you wont believe.  You will want a cleat mid ships too so you can move the anchor rope around the boat to slow down the swinging you will experience.

Get at least a 25-30 pound rocker type anchor, 6' of chain and 400 feet of rope. you wont regret it. Zimmer also makes and sells a slick 2 anchor system that works well on Flathead.   I think we can do you better on the rope$, let me see what I can do.

[fishin247]

As far as the walleye suggestion, walleyes unlimited tried real hard a few years back to try to get FWP to introduce 'eyes in western MT. It was decided against. I apreciate wanting more convinient places to fish for em, but don't think we need them everywhere.

Fishawn, I would suggest doing a little trolling too. With all the big houses on the lake, its kind of cool taking a tour while you fish. I only fish mack days, so I'm not an expert by any means, but seem to catch more fish than most of the people that I see turn in fish at Blue Bay at dusk, and we general troll in the 50-70ft range. Nothing too extreme. The other thing I like about trolling is if you watch your electronics, you can find a few spots that have some promise for fish.  I've found green or blue spoons work best. I had one two years ago that was working ausome. Snagged it on the bottom, lost it, and don't remember where I bought it. I'll second what was said about plenty of tackle. You'll lose some. I snagged on the bottom once and lost a 100 yrds of leaded line. Funny thing, is the knots I tied on the lure to leader and leader to leaded line held. The one from leaded line to backing didn't, and the leaded line was the strongest lb test of all of them. The guy at the sporting goods store tied that one. Oh well. I'm in Bozeman too, so if you want send me a PM and I'll let you know where we like to fish. Saw big schools of bait fish in shelter bay on the finder once during a storm, so I imagine the lakers were nearby.  Lost my little triple teaser that day, and didn't feel a tug.

[fishawn]

I'm all about finding out info on the lake. The more tools I have, the better chance I have for catching a few fish while I'm there. I just bought a map that shows the contours of the bottom of the lake which should help find some structure. I love trolling so I will definitely try that out as well. I'll need to get some lead line over at Sportsman. I also saw a technique online that uses a 3-way swivel and a 2 oz sinker to get you to the bottom and a 4 leader that holds your lure. Wonder if this system would work and save me some money on lead line? I might get lucky and be able to borrow a buddies two downriggers which will solve my problem.

My email is [email protected] if you have time to shoot me an email with how you fish the lake.

Thanks!

[Hook them Lipps]

A lot of people use those dippsy divers.  There are a few different types and i don't know a lot about them but I know they are highly recomended for getting deep.  They even have one that you can adjust to the depth you want to fish.  They have a table with them that tells you how much line to let out at a certain angle.  I think they a pretty user friendly.  Maybe someone else on here can fill you in on them exactly?

[fishin247]

Sent you an email. If anyone else reads this, the three way method is money.