Only one weekend left in the 2024 Spring Mack Days Fishing Event on Flathead Lake! The event began March 14th and will end Saturday May 11th. Mack Days Fishing Events are sponsored by the Confederated Salish and Kootenai Tribes and are sanctioned by Montana Fish, Wildlife, and Parks. The events are used as a management tool to reduce the numbers of non-native lake trout in Flathead Lake. This event is one of the better events in Mack Days history when it comes to numbers of lake trout entered. A total of 32,683 have been entered so far. The 2019 Spring Event holds the record fish count at 40,357. This past Fridays total came to 1,478, Saturdays total was 922, and Sundays total was 532.
These hard-working anglers are what make these Mack Days events successful! Many are out on the water before dawn and do not come in till dark. They endure cold, hot, wet, wind-whatever kind of weather gets thrown at them. The weekend came with it all-huge rough waves were reported by many anglers coming off the water on Saturday and Sunday. The worst was the fish were lip locked. Sunday morning was more of the same. Sunday afternoon the waters calmed but the lake trout were still pretty tight lipped and were not biting and then cold rain came! Nature definitely rules out on the water!
There is Up to $225,000 in Cash and Prizes sponsored by the Confederated Salish and Kootenai Tribes that will be awarded at the conclusion of the event. It is still not too late to enter and get your name in the drawings. Every fish gives anglers a chance to win in the lottery drawings, catch a tagged lake trout, catch the largest lake trout, or maybe the smallest lake trout.
Lady angler Julie Perkins of Kalispell is first in the Ladies Category with 291, 2nd Shirley Batz of Kalispell with 117, 3rd Corrine McCubbins-Kalispell 79, 4th Melissa Triano-Bigfork 24, and Connie Jones-Kalispell 23.
Kolton Turner of Kalispell has already set a new record for lake trout entries and is in 1st place in the Top Twenty category. His total is currently at 2,193. Jason Mahlen of Kalispell held the record of 2,134 set in 2019. The Top Ten anglers are placed by their best 18-day average at the end of the event. Kolton has a 100 average. Bob Turner of Kalispell is in 2nd with 2,005 entries and an average of 96.94, 3rd Jason Mahlen with 1,973 and 97.39, 4th Clint Speer of Kalispell 1,257 and 60.61, 5th Gene Corne of Kalispell 1,076 and 53.39, 6th Ken Varga-Kalispell 1,005 and 52.61, 7th Jerry Benson-Plains 975 51.83, 8th Michael Benson-Lonepine 939 49.83, 9th Travis Banyai-Lakeside 890 49.11, and 10th Tyler Varga-Kalispell 866 47.61. The eleventh to twentieth places are set by totals. Bryan Long of Kalispell is currently in 11th 764, Larry Ashwell-Missoula 12th 755, David Kelch-Great Falls 13th 744, 14th David McDaniel-Polson 738, 15th Larry Ludahl-Kalispell 710, 16th Nate Dieterich-Kalispell 661, 17th Felix Gauci-Stevensville 610, 18th Jack Kirkland of Lolo-593, 19th Terry Krogstad of Kalispell-537, and 20th Dan Deutschman of Missoula 479.
Brodie Smith of Kalispell is in 1st place in the 13-17 age group with 421, 2nd Kennedy Yang of Missoula-31, Matthew Mitts-Kalispell is third with 23, Lane Brazda of Missoula-14, and Lucia Savoia of Missoula 1. Eli Yang of Missoula is 1st in the 12 & under age group with 31, James Kuchera of Kalispell is 2nd with 5, Mason Cusker of Bigfork has 4, and Gage Spring of Alberton is 3rd with 3.
Weekend winners were: $200-Terry Krogstad-$100 Jason Kellmer of Missoula, Tyler Varga, Laurie Kreis of Huson, and Michael Stevenson of Kalispell.
There is still a $10,000 tagged lake trout out there along with three $5,000, six $1,000 including one sponsored by Bretz RV and Marine of Missoula and there are over 9,000 with values from $500-$100.
Jason Mahlen turned in a $200 tagged fish-Richard Kreis of Huson-$200-Tom Kemppainen of Kalispell $100—Todd Wood of Ronan $100.
Michael Benson is leading in the 70 & Over with 939 entries. If you are a Top Ten Angler you choose which category you want to place in. Larry Ashwell is 2nd with 755, 3rd Felix Gauci 610, 4th Jack Kirkland 593, and 5th Terry Krogstad 537.
Jack Kirkland is still holding the largest fish entry with a 42” 24.4 pound lake trout. Smallest lake trout is a 164mm (6.5”) entry by Gene Corne. There is a three way tie for 2nd with 166mm fish turned in by Jason Mahlen, Gene Corne, and Kolton Turner.
Third day of the Bucket of Fish was won by Cole Williams of Kalispell with a bucket weight of 26.6 pounds for four fish in the bucket. Jeremy Williams of Missoula was 2nd with 23.35, 3rd Matt and Collin Mitts of Kalispell 21.25, 4th Rick Skates of Big Arm 18.65, and 5th Carey Hauser of Kalispell 18.2.
Saturday May 11th is the last day of the event. All entries have to be turned in by 3:00 at Blue Bay—no fish pickups around the lake. There will be a small awards ceremony at that time. The last day is a separate day with its own awards. All other categories end on Friday. Lottery prizes and category placings will be posted on Saturday.
Tight lines everyone and Thank you anglers-you make this happen! CSKT—
