Spring Mack Days off to hot start

The 2024 Spring Mack Days on Flathead Lake began Thursday March 14 and wraps up on May 11.

The weather was great for fishing and a fun weekend. Turning in perfect first day totals of 100 on Thursday were Bob Turner, Kolton Turner and Jason Mahlen. The first day total came to a whopping 986 lake trout entries. Great way to get Mack Days started off to a really good weekend of reeling in lake trout. 

Mack Days Fishing Events are a fish conservation effort designed to lower the numbers of non-native voracious feeding lake trout in Flathead Lake to increase the numbers of native bull trout and westslope cutthroat which were the dominant fish of the lake for hundreds of years. 

There is up to $225,000 in cash and prizes sponsored by the Confederated Salish and Kootenai Tribes will be awarded at the conclusion of the event to the many qualifying hard-working anglers who turn in 11 lake trout entries or more to earn bonus dollars which go up as their totals go up.  Tagged fish winners from $100 to $10,000, lottery prize winners-$2,000 to $100, or the many different category winners anglers may qualify in. 

The $10,000 tagged lake trout “Leto”(meaning hidden one) is somewhere out there waiting for a lucky angler to entice him to hit their lure. There are also 3-$5,000, 6-$1,000 including one sponsored from Bretz RV and Marine in Missoula, and over 9,000 tagged fish with values from $100 to $500. Turning in tagged lake trout the first weekend was: David McDaniel-$200-Polson, $100 tags were turned in by Mike Benson-Lonepine, Chris Demmons X 2-Missoula, Tristan Persico-Missoula, Jerry Benson-Plains, and Chris Shae of Kalispell turned in $100 and $200 tags. 

Top Twenty Anglers: Jason Mahlen and Kolton Turner, both from Kalispell are tied for 1st and 2nd place with 300 entries in the Friday through Sunday days of the event. Bob Turner of Kalispell ran out of daylight on Sunday coming in with 99 bringing his total to 299.  Friday fishing had five anglers in the 100-perfect day of fishing-Jason, Kolton, Bob, and Jerry Benson of Plains, and Mike Benson of Lonepine. Tyler Varga of Kalispell is another angler that ran out of daylight on Saturday ending up with a 99 fish count. He had one on at the end and lost it just as it came up to the boat.  Tyler is in 4th place with 224, 5th Jerry Benson with 217-100 Friday, 55-Saturday, and 62-Sunday, 6th Jake North of Denton 202-67, 82, & 53, Ken Varga of Kalispell 7th with 197-54, 74, & 69, 8th place Felix Gauci of Stevensville with 196-84, 71, & 41, 9th Mike Benson of Lonepine with 194-100, 63, & 31, 10th Clint Speer of Kalispell 177-68, 62, & 47, 11th and 12th Bryan Long of Kalispell 153 and Cory Speer of Athol, ID. With 153, 13th Gene Corne of Kalispell with 147, 14th and 15th Larry Ludahl of Kalispell-135 and Dan Deutschman of Missoula-135, 16th Jack Kirkland of Missoula-132, 17th Travis Banyai of Lakeside-131, 18th Larry Ashwell of Missoula-123, 19th Scott Bombard of Missoula-105, and 20th David Kelch of Great Falls has 99. 

Total catch is at 6,625. Thursday’s total came to 986, Friday’s total was 2,171, Saturday’s total was 1,983, and Sunday’s total was 1,485. Total lake trout entries for Friday to Sunday is 5,639. Highest weekend total in past events was in 2017 with 6,138 in the Fri-Sun fishing. Second highest was 2016 with 5,987. 

Brodie Smith of Kalispell has grown up fishing on the lake and his expertise is showing. He is leading the 13-17 Category with 89 entries. Lane Brazda of Missoula is in 2nd with 14, and 3rd Kennedy Yang of Missoula with 12. In the 12 & Under the leader is Eli Yang of Missoula with 11, Mason Cusker of Bigfork is 2nd with 4, Gage Spring of Alberton and James Kuchera of Kalispell each have 2. 

Lady Angler Melissa Triano of Bigfork is in 1st with 24 entries, 2nd place is Jamie Caldwell of Kalispell with 13, 3rd and 4th Aryahna Stevenson and Connie Jones of Kalispell each have 11, 5th place is Shirley Batz of Kalispell with 7.

Felix Gauci is leading the 70 & Over group with 196, 2nd Mike Benson with194, 3rd Jack Kirkland with 132, 4th Marty Herek of Polson with 38, and 5th place is Wes Wilkinson of Columbia Falls with 27 entries.

 Winners of the weekend prizes were: Matt Brazda Missoula-$200, Bob Turner, Larry Ashwell, Bryan Long, Gene Corne-Kalispell all with $100 awards. 

Smallest lake trout entry so far is Michael Stevenson with a 236mm-9.3” and Shawn Stevenson with 217mm-8.5” lake trout entries. There are No large lake trout entries yet. Largest lake trout entry award is for a fish 36” or over and with a weight of 20 pounds or over-$500 sponsored by Bretz RV and Marine.

Entries continue to be taken until the end of the event. We apologize, our website is currently under reconstruction. Please send your entry with name, mailing address, telephone number, and age if 70 & Over to cindy.benson@cskt.org or call (406) 270-3386. You can also enter at the end of a day of fishing when you turn in your catch.