Fish On, Fish On, & Fish On!!! 2025 Spring Mack Days on Flathead Lake is on course for a new record of lake trout entries. There are 3 weekends left in this event which is sponsored by the Confederated Salish and Kootenai Tribes. The event ends on Saturday May 10th with all fish entries in by 3:00. Up to $225,000 in Cash and Prizes will be awarded to many of the hard-working anglers. The 2019 Spring Event holds the record of 40,362 lake trout entries turned in by two hundred nineteen anglers over the 51 days of competition. Current total for this event is at 40,343 just nineteen fish short of breaking the 2019 record.
It is not too late to enter and become a part of this fish conservation effort. Go to www.mackdays.com for entry, fish ID, fishing tips, etc. There are many ways to win-every entry counts and gets you entered in the lottery drawings that begin at $2,000.
Mack Days Fishing Events are an important tool used for lake trout reduction in Flathead Lake. Lake trout were introduced into the lake system in 1904 but their population did not explode until several years later when mysis shrimp were introduced into the Flathead system. Lake trout found a banquet at the bottom of the lake in the small mysis and their population multiplied by thousands and took over the fish populations of the lake. The native bull trout and westslope cutthroat populations dramatically declined. Bull trout and westslope cutthroat are now protected. Both native species are important to Flathead Lake and the river system. For information from past years of Fisheries Management go to the Management page on the website www.mackdays.com and click under Fisheries Management-A Changing Lake onto Summary of Lake Trout Suppression Activities 2024. This report has a lot of information for everyone!
The $10,000 tagged lake trout has continued to elude the lake trout anglers. He along with 3-$5,000, 4-$1,000 and over 9000 with $100-$500 values are still out there in the depths of Flathead Lake. Turning in $100 tagged lake trout were: Shaunda Albert of Ronan, Patrick Casey of Townsend, Nate Salmonsen of Kalispell, Dan Deutschman of Fergus Falls MN, and Julie Perkins of Kalispell. Clint Speer of Kalispell had a $200 tagged lake trout. Information from the tagged fish caught includes growth from the time of tagging to the time of capture, movement, and age from time of tagging till capture. Tagging information when tags are inserted includes date of tagging, length, location, and depth.
Top Angler placings will probably not be decided until the end of the event. It is a close competition for the placings. Jason Mahlen of Kalispell is in first place with a total of 1,712 entries. He turned in 3 limits of 100/day over the weekend His 18-day average at this time is 95.11 Jason is a seasoned seven-time winner of the event. His last win was in 2020 with a total of 1,381 entries and a 99.92 18-day average. He and second place angler Kolton Turner hold the record for 100.0 18-day averages. Jason reached that average in the 2019 event with 2,134 entries and Kolton winning the 2024 event with 2,289 entries and 100 18-day average. Kolton has claimed the 1st place Spring Event Top Angler award 4 times. This race for the 2025 Top Angler 1st place standing will likely continue till the last day of competition which is Friday May 9th. The last day has separate prizes but numbers of entries will be added to the bonus totals of the anglers.
Bob Turner of Kalispell and David Myers of Riverton Wy are also still in the mix. Both of them have several 100 fish days. Coming in 2nd is Kolton with 1,698-94.33 avg. Fri-52, Sat 78, Sun 100, 3rd Bob Turner 1,571-87.28 avg. 48, 56, 54, 4th David Myers 1,550 86.11-100X3, 5th Jerry Benson of Plains with 1,179-65.5 64, 78, 47, 6th Clint Speer of Kalispell 1,163-64.6 46, 24, 37, 7th Patrick Casey of Townsend 1,039- 57.7 72, 48, 35, 8th Gene Corne of Kalispell 966-53.6 45, 28, 25, 9th Mike Benson of Lonepine 959-53.2 55, 41, 61, 10th Steve Anderchick of Kalispell 950-52.7 16, 51, 43. Larry Ashwell of Missoula is in 11th with 856, 12th Larry Ludahl of Kalispell 850, 13th Bob Stewart of Kalispell 841, 14th Terry Krogstad of Kalispell 815, 15th Jack Kirkland of Lolo 796, 16th Devon Burkowski of Kalispell 719, 17th Michael Stevenson of Kalispell 709, 18th Larry Karper of Florence 639, 19th Julie Perkins of Kalispell 634, and 20th Brodie Smith of Kalispell 612.
Julie Perkins is leading the Ladies with 634, 2nd Janet Myers of Riverton WY-419, 3rd Shaunda Albert of Ronan with 166, 4th Connie Jones of Kalispell with 150, and 5th Laurie Bouley of Columbia Falls with 44.
Jerry Benson leads in the 70 & Over with 1,179, 2nd Michael Benson with 959, 3rd Larry Ashwell with 856, 4th Terry Krogstad with 815, and 5th Jack Kirkland with 796.
Youth Categories: These younger anglers are doing a great job, they are the future of the events and will be future decision makers on native species management issues. They are all helping in this event. Carter Lindsay of Pablo is 1st in the 12 & Under with 24, 2nd Benjamin Dieterich of Kalispell 22, 3rd Allvia Yang of Missoula with 19, 4th Mason Cusker of Bigfork 6, and Wyatt Best of Florence has 3. In the 13-17 Category Brodie Smith of Kalispell continues to bring in large numbers of entries. He has a total of 612, 2nd Fjord Borgen of Kalispell with 14, David Gerspach of Kila and Sawyer Clark of Columbia Falls are tied for 3rd with 3.
Smallest lake trout entries are Gene Corne of Kalispell with a 155mm (6”) lake trout and Korey Heindahl of Kalispell with a 162mm small lake trout. Matt Brazda of Missoula still holds the largest fish category with a 36.25” 20.5lb lake trout. The largest lake trout qualifies by the heaviest over 36” and 20lbs.
Heaviest Bucket of Fish on the second day was a 25.1lb. bucket of four lake trout turned in by Britton Salois of Ronan, Shaunda Albert of Ronan, and up and coming angler Carter Lindsay of Pablo. They win $200 for the 1st place heaviest bucket of lake trout. Rick Skates of Big Arm had a 24.17 lb. bucket, and Dave and Janet Myers turned in a 20.75 lb. bucket. Third day of the Bucket of Fish competition will be Sunday May 4th.
Weekend drawing winners were $200: Clint Speer, $100: Mike Benson, Jack Kirkland, Bryan Long of Kalispell, and Ken Varga of Kalispell.
Thank you, anglers!!
Good luck & Tight lines everyone!
—CSKT—
Photo: Justin Bair with a nice 37” 19.1 too small lake trout for the large fish category.
