Mack Days Ladies of the Lake

“He is not going fishing today!” the woman exclaims as she tries to jam a fishing pole down the garbage disposal.

Another woman beats a fishing pole against the kitchen counter then throws the pole to the floor where she jumps like she’s stomping out a fire. In the next scene a woman tries unsuccessfully to break a fishing pole across her knee. She then coaxes a huge dog to take the pole, no doubt hoping he will chew it up and bury it in the backyard.

The above television commercial was aimed at showing men how tough this companies’ fishing poles are and that women don’t appreciate fishing and a good fishing pole. The rod company is “missing the boat” for potential sales. The women portrayed in this ad definitely are not the women who fish during Mack Days on Flathead Lake. Montana’s lady anglers would never destroy fishing poles to keep their husbands and boyfriends from going fishing. They would not only want to go along fishing, but would insist on having their own fishing poles!

Mack Days started on Flathead Lake in the fall of 2002. It is a spring and fall fishing tournament sponsored by the Confederated Salish and Kootenai Tribes and sanctioned by Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks. The event is a way to slowly reduce the non-native lake trout in Flathead Lake and help increase the numbers of native bull and westslope cutthroat trout.

In 2002, there were three women who fished in the tournament and they caught three lake trout. In the spring 2011, Mack Days had 167 girls and women entered who turned in 1,284 lake trout. Between the spring 2005 and the end of the spring 2011, Mack Days tournament female anglers have reduced the number of lake trout by 10,941.

I am one of the “ladies of the lake” who fishes during Mack Days. We are a diverse group. I wanted to understand how and why these ladies are involved with Mack Days so I interviewed girls and women and put together a questionnaire hoping what I learned would encourage other lady anglers to participate in Mack Days. The following is a composite of the results from the fifteen ladies who participated:

The first question was “who introduced you to fishing?”

Fathers, you are the reason most of us are fishing. One grandpa, one husband and two boyfriends introduced the rest. These gentlemen made a big impact on us that has lasted a lifetime. Thank you!

By teaching us to fish you shared your love for us, the outdoors, and taught us many life skills. We learned self-reliance. You taught us to not be afraid of getting dirty, slimy, baiting our own hooks or doing an activity where you are out numbered by the “boys.” We learned patience; waiting for the fish to start biting and for the rain to stop. You shared your appreciation of Mother Nature; teaching us that a healthy habitat for fish is also a healthy habitat for dragon flies, frogs, ducks and us.

So gals, if your father, boyfriend or friend invited you to go fishing and you turned them down, please reconsider. If you were never invited, ask for an invite. You may find out you enjoy the company, the outdoors and the challenge of fooling a fish.

To the question “who do you normally fish with?,” husband was the predominate reply. The remainder of the ladies fish with their dad, son, grandson, boyfriend or other friends.

There were many answers to the question “why do you fish Mack Days?”

Kathryn Cox replied, “to spend quality time with my husband, and the challenge.” Many other ladies felt the same, enjoying the teamwork involved in fishing with their spouse. Debbie O’Hara answered, “to learn more about fishing and to meet people. A very good friend got my husband and I started fishing Mack Days. He was killed in a logging accident. Fishing Mack Days brings a lot of good memories of Bryan Zempel.”

There is a special “Spirit of the Event” award given out every tournament in honor of Bryan Zempel. He embodied a spirit of fun, self-achievement and determination in support of Mack Days.

Other replies as to “why do you fish Mack Days?” were for the lottery and door prizes, the chance to earn money for each fish caught, the competition, trying to improve, to catch a tagged fish worth $10,000, catching fish to eat, donating fish for the food banks, to help reduce lake trout numbers so they won’t gill net the lake, the good food on the last day, to have fun in the outdoors and to make friends and memories.

Deana Knipe summed up reasons we fish Mack Days that most anglers could agree with. She replied, “What an awesome place to spend the day even when the fish aren’t biting. It has been fun to get to know some of the people fishing the tournament. We have celebrated birthdays with barbecues, cheered one another on their big fish, mourned the loss of a fellow fisherman and lifted others in our prayers as they fight cancer. It has brought a sense of community and drawn people together from all walks of life.”

Fellow lady anglers, I thank you for sharing your opinions and experiences fishing Mack Days. You are a great bunch of ladies and tough too; braving wind, cold, big waves and slow bites as well as sunshine and good catches. Your replies might encourage more ladies to participate in Mack Days and help others to see how lucky we are to live in Montana and have a natural resource like Flathead Lake and its fishery.

Dads, boyfriends, husbands and friends, I encourage you to take the females in your life fishing. Your best fishing buddy just might turn out to be your wife or girlfriend!

There are a lot of quality people involved with Mack Days who would be glad to answer questions and help more girls and ladies participate. One of those quality people involved with Mack Days is Cindy Benson. She is a “lady of the lake” that does not fish during Mack Days. She works for the Confederated Salish and Kootenai Tribes and is one of the reasons Mack Days is so successful. Besides her fisheries knowledge, she is organizer, statistician, historian, photographer, journalist, supervisor, decision maker and mentor; always with a smile and encouraging words for the anglers.

I also need to mention the “ladies of the lake” who help count and fillet the fish brought in by the anglers each tournament day. They put in long hours right alongside the guys, filleting the fish with the skills of a surgeon and packaging the lake trout to be donated to our Montana food banks.

Anyone who buys bait for fishing during Mack Days just might be using fish caught by another “lady of the lake.” Her name is Spring. She works for “Zimmer Bait and Tackle” catching bait fish to sell in the shop. She doesn’t have time to fish in Mack Days but the fish she catches helps the rest of us catch our lake trout.

Paula Zimmer of “Zimmer Bait and Tackle” in Pablo is another lady who helps anglers. Her husband Dick has designed lures to catch lake trout and Paula is behind the scenes building and selling these lures and other fishing supplies. Many of us male and female alike would catch a lot less fish during Mack Days if it weren’t for the Zimmers’ fishing tackle and expert advice.

No matter what the gender, we are all doing our part to help reduce the number of predacious mackinaw lake trout in Flathead Lake and aiding in the recovery of westslope cutthroat and bull trout.

Mack Days takes place twice a year and the fall 2011 tournament ended Nov. 13. Check it out at www.mackdays.com for more information.

Gals, please come to Flathead Lake and try your hand at catching lake trout. You too can become a “Lady of the Lake!” I know the name of a company that sells a real tough fishing pole if you need one.