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This week on the Montana Outdoor Podcast your host Downrigger Dale was on a quest to answer a question that not only he has been pondering but so have several other podcast viewers and listeners. Can someone who has never fished in any Mack Days Lake Trout Fishing Tournaments on Flathead Lake, make a decent amount of money fishing their first Mack Days tournament? Rigger got a hold of Tournament Director Cindy Benson and posed that question to her and asked her to find some first timers and ask them to come on the Podcast. So, Cindy introduced Rigger to Ryker Bair and Patrick Casey, two different fishermen who’s first time giving Mack Days a try was last year during Fall Mack Days. And well, you just need to click here to watch or listen here! Yes, Rigger got the answer to his question, but he also got a lot more than that. He got two different approaches to competing in Fall Mack Days for the first time. This Podcast is perfect for anyone that wants to learn a ton about making some money fishing in the Mack Days Tournament that started September 4th and runs through Sunday November 2nd. And yes, you can join in the tournament anytime you want between the 4th and November 2nd. Find out all the different ways you can make money and how to do it whether you have never fished the tournament before or maybe you haven’t tried it in a while and you will learn you don’t have fish everyday to make some dang good money. Plus, this tournament is without a doubt the most fun you will ever have fishing in a tournament! In fact, you will find out the word “fun” gets mentioned a whole lot in this Podcast! So, click here to watch or listen here and then go make some money while having a blast fishing!

Links:

• Click here to learn all the details about Fall Mack Days on their website.
• If you want a quick look at the basics of when and where and such click here.
• Patrick recommended you stop in a chat with Dick Zimmer, The Mackman, at his tackle shop. Click here for more info.
• Click here to learn about campgrounds around the lake.
• Cindy Benson is an incredible Tournament Director, and she is happy to answer your Questions. Click here to email her or give her a call at (406) 270-3386.
• Downrigger Dale is happy to help find info for you as well! Click here to email him.

Remember to tune in to The Montana Outdoor Radio Show, live every Saturday from 6:00AM to 8:00AM MT. The show airs on 30 radio stations across the State of Montana. You can get a list of our affiliated radio stations on our website. You can also listen to recordings of past shows, get fishing and and hunting information and much more at that website or on our Facebook page. You can also watch our radio show there as well.

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This week on the Montana Outdoor Podcast your host Downrigger Dale talks to angler Audie Stein about is frightening brush with death in one of the fiercest windstorms Fort Peck Montana has seen in a very long time. It was the evening of August 7th and Billings resident Audie Stein was camping on his lot that he had purchased near Fort Peck. He had towed his 40-foot travel trailer on the lot that soon he would be building his new home on. In fact, he was a bit excited as it would not be long, and the foundation would be poured, and construction would begin. Audie noticed a huge ominous looking cloud (see photo above) on the horizon and pulled out his phone and snapped a picture before going into his travel trailer for the evening. There was no wind blowing however so Audie did not have any reason to be alarmed at the time and said to himself “I’ll just keep an eye on it”. Little did he know that in just ten short minutes from that time his evening of hell on earth would begin. You need to click here to watch this podcast right now gang or listen right here. Pardon the pun but this Podcast will blow you away! If you can watch this on YouTube as you will get to see several pictures. We are positive that you will wonder the same thing we did when we saw the pictures. How did Audie survive?! Well, click here to watch now and you will find out!

Links:

· What did you think of this podcast? Click here to email Downrigger Dale and give him your thoughts or ideas for future podcast topics!

· Catch up on all the Montana Outdoor Podcasts on YouTube by clicking here.

· What to download the Montana Outdoor Podcast so you can listen while you are driving to your next adventure. Click here to listen all past Montana Outdoor Podcasts!

Remember to tune in to The Montana Outdoor Radio Show, live every Saturday from 6:00AM to 8:00AM MT. The show airs on 30 radio stations across the State of Montana. You can get a list of our affiliated radio stations on our website. You can also listen to recordings of past shows, get fishing and and hunting information and much more at that website or on our Facebook page. You can also watch our radio show there as well.

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This week on the Montana Outdoor Podcast your host Downrigger Dale had a great conversation with Ross Tate who is also known by anglers on Flathead Lake as the Whitefish Whisperer. Click here to watch or listen here and you will understand that Ross is called that for a good reason. There are very few folks out there that know more about how to catch the Lake Whitefish in Flathead Lake. This is a great opportunity for anyone who has ever wanted to learn how to catch the Lake Whitefish also referred to by many on Flathead as the Lake Superior Whitefish. If you have never caught one of these fish, you might be wondering what is the big deal about catching Lake Whitefish? There are two main reasons. 1. They are quite possibly the best eating freshwater fish anywhere on the planet! And 2. Pound for pound they are one of the hardest fighting fish you will ever catch! There are only a few times of the year that the lake whitefish can be found and caught. Now is the time they come up to feed on the freshly hatched perch fry, but it takes a special technique to find and catch the HUGE ones and you guessed it, Ross is one that truly knows how to do it! If you can try to watch this one on YouTube by clicking here. That’s because Ross shows all the lures he uses, and he shows the rod and reel that delivers the perfect action to get the job done. Plus, Ross even describes the perfect way to clean Lake Whitefish so you and have perfect boneless filets. If you can’t watch you can listen here and you will likely get the just of it and you can also click the link below and Rigger will email you some videos and pictures. Don’t miss this one gang, it is fantastic info that will get you (pardon the pun) hooked on catching Lake Whitefish!

Links:

• To learn more about Flathead Lake and its Campgrounds click here.
• Click here to find the tackle Ross talks about from Dick Zimmer.
• Ross & Rigger also talked about having info handy if you are stranded on Flathead Lake. Click here for one of the companies that can help.
• Rigger also mentioned that you can contact the Coast Guard Auxiliary for a free boat safety inspection. Click here for that.
• Do you have a question for Ross Tate? Click here to email him.
• Click here to email Downrigger Dale.

Remember to tune in to The Montana Outdoor Radio Show, live every Saturday from 6:00AM to 8:00AM MT. The show airs on 30 radio stations across the State of Montana. You can get a list of our affiliated radio stations on our website. You can also listen to recordings of past shows, get fishing and and hunting information and much more at that website or on our Facebook page. You can also watch our radio show there as well.

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This week on the Montana Outdoor Podcast your host Downrigger Dale has another great conversation with FWP, Game Management Bureau Chief, Brian Wakeling, this time about Montana's Elk Shoulder Seasons. These seasons are already underway in several hunting districts and will go on and off through February 15th, 2026. Just that statement right there is confusing. Thus, there are a whole lot of hunters that pass on giving these elk harvest opportunities a try. Rigger has received a whole lot of emails from many podcast listeners and viewers complaining about that. Folks have said things like "I have a helluva time figuring out what tag I even need in Shoulder Seasons near me" or "Antlerless elk!? Does that mean a cow or calf or what" or "just when I thought I had it figured out, I head out and the landowner said, "hey you can't do that here now that was for last week!" And the list goes on and on. That's why your host Downrigger Dale said "not this year, all that confusion needs to be cleared up and Brian Wakeling is the perfect guy for the job. Brian is excellent at explaining everything you need to know about Elk Shoulder Seasons. During the podcast Brian even opened the 2025 hunting regulations and showed some examples of where to look for Shoulder Season info and more importantly what all that info means. Once you listen or watch this podcast you will be walking around with a big beautiful light bulb above your head! True you won't be bringing home a trophy mount, but you will be able to fill your freezer with delicious elk meat! That is way better than sipping on a mug of tag soup! So what are ya waiting for ya brilliant meat eater? Go mash that play button and listen or better yet watch and learn all about it!

Links:

• Click here for a web page were you can learn even more, and it has some great hunt planning tools!
• Click here to look at last year's Shoulder Season performance data that Brian gave us.
• For a copy of Montana's Deer, Elk and Pronghorn hunting regulations click here.
• To send Brian Wakeling a question click here.
• Click here to email Downrigger Dale.

Remember to tune in to The Montana Outdoor Radio Show, live every Saturday from 6:00AM to 8:00AM MT. The show airs on 30 radio stations across the State of Montana. You can get a list of our affiliated radio stations on our website. You can also listen to recordings of past shows, get fishing and and hunting information and much more at that website or on our Facebook page. You can also watch our radio show there as well.

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This week on the Montana Outdoor Podcast your host Downrigger Dale has a fascinating discussion with Katie Vivian, FWP Region 4 Fisheries Manager. Katie is very intelligent, especially when it comes to the fish in Tiber Reservoir, which is also her personal favorite place to fish. Tiber can be challenging to get it to give up its HUGE Walleye and other species. When you watch this podcast on YouTube or listen to it here, Katie will explain why and will help you get around that. One of the main reasons that Rigger contacted Katie in the first place was so many of you had emailed him and asked what was the reason for those incredible record breaking weights that were turned in during the Walleyes Unlimited Walleye Tournament just last June. In fact, those weights were so incredible that they became national news. It is VERY unusual to see the size of so many huge walleyes being caught over a two-day period and not just by the winning team but by many of the other teams. That's a huge change from past tournaments at Tiber. So yeah, it's not surprising that national publications picked up that story. One question came out of all those news stories, "why", why all the sudden such dramatic change in the size of Walleye caught in Tiber. Sure, one team can just have an amazing two days, but to have so many teams do it, well that lead everyone to feel that something BIG had changed at Tiber Reservoir but no one knew why, that is until now. Wait until you hear what Katie Vivian says on this podcast. When you do be prepared to have a "mystery solved" moment. All of us here at the Montana Outdoor Podcast can't wait for you to hear this!! Plus, Katie gives a great overview of what else is swimming around in Tiber Reservior. We predict there will likely be a whole lot of you heading for Tiber Reservior there in North Central Montana! So what are you waiting for? Get to listening or better yet watch it on YouTube cause Katie also shares some awesome pictures of some monsters that have shown up in her netting surveys at Tiber!

Links:

• To learn more about Tiber Reservoir click here.
• Click here to learn more about Barotrauma in fish, a term Katie talks about in the podcast.
• Click here to check out the Montana Fish Management Plan.
• Questions for Katie Vivian? Click here.
• Click here to contact Downrigger Dale.

Remember to tune in to The Montana Outdoor Radio Show, live every Saturday from 6:00AM to 8:00AM MT. The show airs on 30 radio stations across the State of Montana. You can get a list of our affiliated radio stations on our website. You can also listen to recordings of past shows, get fishing and and hunting information and much more at that website or on our Facebook page. You can also watch our radio show there as well.

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This week on the Montana Outdoor podcast your host Downrigger Dale has an amazing conversation with two of the preeminent wildlife biology researchers in the Country! They are located right here in Montana ln the University of Montana Wildlife Biology program. This is one of the highest ranked wildlife biology schools in the Country, if not the world. Rigger talked with Dr. Chad Bishop who is the Director of the program at the U of M and Dr. Andrew Whiteley who is a faculty member there at the U of M Wildlife Biology program and leads a lab focusing on conservation genetics of fish throughout Western North America! Rigger, Chad and Andrew covered some unreal topics. For example, Andrew is doing some amazing research he is, in essence, finding ways the problems caused by inbreeding in trout populations. An age old-problem that began as fish got isolated into certain areas. His work could change the future of endangered fish. His and Chad's research could go way beyond that to maybe even stop the spread of diseases in many other animals like Deer, Elk and Antelope! Chad, Andrew, other faculty and the students are working on much more as well at University of Montana. Of course, as always good old Downrigger had to push the edge of the envelope at, one point he steered the discussion into how AI is being used to help speed up research, of course thinking surely AI has not made its way into working with wildlife yet. Ooooh yes it has! Dr Bishop gave a perfect example of how he is using AI in his ungulate studies (deer, elk, antelope, etc.). You have to hear about this! They even got into the idea of possibly using gene of gene editing to help species survive things like CWD in deer and elk or Whirling disease in fish. Course Rigger had to ask if it was possible for them to get Walleye to start growing to 30 pounds! Wait a minute, can they? Watch on YouTube or listen here to find out. Heck they talked about the Flathead Lake Monster and Bigfoot! Could those really be out among us here in Montana? Find out what Dr Bishop and Dr Whiteley had to say about that! So mash that play button and watch or listen now!

Links:

• To learn more about the U of M Wildlife Biology program click here.
• Click here to watch a short video about the Wildlife Biology program.
• To learn more about Dr. Chad Bishop click here.
• Click here to learn more about Dr. Andrew Whiteley.
• Questions? Click here to email Dr. Bishop. Click here to email Dr. Whiteley.
• Click here to email Downrigger Dale.

Remember to tune in to The Montana Outdoor Radio Show, live every Saturday from 6:00AM to 8:00AM MT. The show airs on 30 radio stations across the State of Montana. You can get a list of our affiliated radio stations on our website. You can also listen to recordings of past shows, get fishing and and hunting information and much more at that website or on our Facebook page. You can also watch our radio show there as well.

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In this week's Montana Outdoor Podcast your host Downrigger Dale continues his no holds barred discussion with Tom Opre the Director of the amazing new documentary film called The Real Yellowstone. In Part Two of the Podcast about the film Tom gives more previews into of this truly groundbreaking film. Again, this is not about Kevin Costner's character in the popular TV series called Yellowstone. Instead, the film tells the REAL-LIFE story of what farmers and ranchers all across Montana are up against and how their challenges continue to increase and now those challenges have spread to hunters and fishermen. As Rigger put it after he finished recording this podcast; "Tom Opre is a great journalist who really tried to be fair and let all sides tell their story, so the viewers really see all sides of this. That must have been very hard because once I saw this entire film I sure felt strongly that the incredibly wealthy radical environmental lobby is making a major push to take over the farmland and prime hunting and fishing areas of Montana. This is a big eye opener as this is not like what those groups used to try. They are really going for it all, in my opinion farmers, ranchers and outdoorsmen and women are in the crosshairs big time. In fact, during this second episode I could really see Tom's impartiality starting to crack a bit especially when he passionately said about hunting "If we can't do this, then I don't see much hope for humanity because this is the most essence of who we are as humans. It's in our DNA." After recording this Podcast Rigger also said, "I flat challenge you to watch this podcast and this film and tell me with a straight face that you think what these out of state groups are trying to do is fair... to anyone!" There you have it folks you have been challenged so get to it. Watch or listen here and check out the links below and tell us what you think!

Links:

• Learn more about The Real Yellowstone click here.
• Learn more about Tom's organization Shepards of Wildlife Society by clicking here. Make sure you join and donate if you can.
• Watch that trailer of the film again. Click here.
• To learn more about director Tom Opre click here.
• Click here to find a premier to attend near you! Don't forget if you can't make a premier in person you can go to Shepards of Wildlife Society and get a ticket to the online premier on August 15th!
• Send Tom Opre an email by clicking here!
• Send an email to Downrigger. Click here!

Remember to tune in to The Montana Outdoor Radio Show, live every Saturday from 6:00AM to 8:00AM MT. The show airs on 30 radio stations across the State of Montana. You can get a list of our affiliated radio stations on our website. You can also listen to recordings of past shows, get fishing and and hunting information and much more at that website or on our Facebook page. You can also watch our radio show there as well.

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This week on the Montana Outdoor Podcast your host Downrigger Dale has a fascinating conversation with award winning documentary director Tom Opre. Tom has created amazing films like Killing the Shepard and The Last Keeper. Now he focuses his camera on Montana's farmers, ranchers, wildlife and hunters with his latest film called The Real Yellowstone. Of course, most everyone is familiar with the incredibly popular television series Yellowstone starring Kevin Costner, but those episodes are not real. The Real Yellowstone delves into the real lives of ranching families who find themselves at the heart of a complex struggle. As stewards of both livestock and wildlife, these ranchers, whose families have worked the land for generations, face a web of rising real estate prices, predator attacks, and a powerful conservation movement that seeks to reshape the landscape they call home. When you listen to the Podcast you will learn that not only are the livelihoods of these families threatened but so are the rights of hunters and anglers. As Downrigger put it, "This discussion was one of the biggest eyeopeners I have ever had! Our heritage and the ability to hunt, fish and enjoy the outdoors of Montana is being threatened. EVERYONE needs to watch or listen to this Podcast and see Tom's film without a doubt!" Yeah, ole Rigger was a bit hot under the collar and was so happy that he got to do this podcast with Tom. In fact, in this podcast he had so much to cover with Tom about his film and its topic that this Podcast will be a two-parter. So, make sure you listen to or watch it on YouTube as you will get to see some scenes for the The Real Yellowstone. Also check out the links below so you can get info on where you can attend a premier of the movie! So, mash that play button now listen to this podcast or click here to watch it on YouTube!

Links:

• Learn more about The Real Yellowstone click here.
• Learn more about Tom's organization Shepards of Wildlife Society by clicking here. Make sure you join and donate if you can.
• Watch that trailer of the film again. Click here.
• To learn more about director Tom Opre click here.
• Click here to find a premier to attend near you!
• Send Tom Opre an email by clicking here!
• Send an email to Downrigger. Click here!

Remember to tune in to The Montana Outdoor Radio Show, live every Saturday from 6:00AM to 8:00AM MT. The show airs on 30 radio stations across the State of Montana. You can get a list of our affiliated radio stations on our website. You can also listen to recordings of past shows, get fishing and and hunting information and much more at that website or on our Facebook page. You can also watch our radio show there as well.