Spring Mack Days week 1 results announced
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News from CSKT Natural Resources
The 2024 Spring Mack Days on Flathead Lake is sponsored by the Confederated Salish and Kootenai Tribes and sanctioned by Montana Fish, Wildlife, and Parks. The event began Thursday, March 14, and wraps up on May 11, 2024. Mack Days fishing events are a fish conservation effort designed to lower the numbers of non-native voracious feeding lake trout in Flathead Lake and to increase the numbers of native bull trout and westslope cutthroat which were the dominant fish of the lake for hundreds of years.
Up to $225,000 in cash and prizes are available and sponsored by the Confederated Salish and Kootenai Tribes. Prizes 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. Bonus dollars go up as their totals of fish caught go up. Tagged fish winners go from $100 to $10,000 and lottery prize winners go from $2,000 to $100, and there are many different categories winning anglers may qualify in.
The weather was great for fishing and a fun on the first weekend. Turning in perfect first-day totals of 100 fish on Thursday were Bob Turner, Kolton Turner, and Jason Mahlen. The first day total came to a whopping 986 lake trout entries. This is a great way to get a Mack Days weekend started off reeling in lake trout.
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 lake trout, 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 were: David McDaniel-$200 of Polson, $100 tags were turned in by Mike Benson of Lonepine, Chris Demmons of Missoula, Tristan Persico of Missoula, Jerry Benson of Plains, and Chris Shae of Kalispell turned in $100 and $200 tags.
The Top Twenty Anglers were: Jason Mahlen and Kolton Turner, both from Kalispell are tied for first and second 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 fourth place with 224, in fifth place is Jerry Benson with 217: 100-Friday, 55-Saturday, and 62-Sunday, in sixth place is Jake North of Denton with 202: 67, 82, & 53; Ken Varga of Kalispell is in seventh place with 197: 54, 74, & 69, in eighth place is Felix Gauci of Stevensville with 196: 84, 71, & 41, in ninth place is Mike Benson of Lonepine with 194:100, 63, & 31: in 10th place is Clint Speer of Kalispell with 177: 68, 62, & 47, in 11th place is Bryan Long of Kalispell with 153 and in 12th place is Cory Speer of Athol, Idaho, with 153; in 13th place is Gene Corne of Kalispell with 147; in 14th place is Larry Ludahl of Kalispell with 135 and in 15th place is Dan Deutschman of Missoula with 135; in 16th place of Jack Kirkland of Missoula with 132; in 17th place is Travis Banyai of Lakeside with 131; in 18th place is Larry Ashwell of Missoula with 123; in 19th place is Scott Bombard of Missoula with 105, and in 20th place is David Kelch of Great Falls with 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 was 5,639. Highest weekend total in past events was in 2017 with 6,138 in the Friday-Sunday fishing evet and the second highest was in 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-year-old category with 89 entries. Lane Brazda of Missoula is in second place with 14, and in third place is Kennedy Yang of Missoula with 12. In the 12 & under category the leader is Eli Yang of Missoula with 11. Mason Cusker of Bigfork is in second place with 4, Gage Spring of Alberton and James Kuchera of Kalispell each have 2.
Lady Angler Melissa Triano of Bigfork is in first place with 24 entries, in second place is Jamie Caldwell of Kalispell with 13, in third and fourth place are Aryahna Stevenson and Connie Jones of Kalispell, each have 11, and in fifth place is Shirley Batz of Kalispell with 7.
Felix Gauci is leading the 70 & over group with 196, in second place is Mike Benson with 194, in third place is Jack Kirkland with 132, in fourth place is Marty Herek of Polson with 38, and in fifth place is Wes Wilkinson of Columbia Falls with 27 entries.
Winners of the weekend prizes were: Matt Brazda of Missoula-$200, Bob Turner, Larry Ashwell, Bryan Long, Gene Corne all of Kalispell with $100 awards.
Smallest lake trout entry so far is Michael Stevenson with a 236mm-9.3” and Shawn Stevenson with a 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 for a $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.
Thank you to all anglers who are participating in the event. You are the success of this effort. Fish one day or fish every day.
