2024 Spring Mack Days week 3 results announced
Marty Hensel photo
Flathead Lake on a recent spring day.
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News from CSKT Natural Resources
FLATHEAD LAKE — After three weekends of fishing beneath the snowcapped Mission Mountains on Flathead Lake, our Spring Mack Days anglers’ total lake trout count stands at 13,417. Totals from previous years’ 3-week mark are: 2023 - 11,315 entries, 2022 - 9,039 entries, 2021 - 11,135 entries, 2020 - 12,925 entries, and 2019 -13,622 entries. This year’s anglers are amazing fishermen and women who put in countless hours, money, and effort making the event successful.
Mack Days Fishing Events are sponsored by the Confederated Salish and Kootenai Tribes and are sanctioned by Montana Fish, Wildlife, and Parks. The fishing events are a management tool used to reduce the non-native lake trout population in Flathead Lake. Increasing the native bull trout and westslope cutthroat is important for the future of Flathead Lake fisheries by helping to sustain populations of the bull trout and westslope cutthroat into the future. There are 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 entire event to the many hard-working anglers. Entries continue to be taken until the last day of the event. Enter at the end of the day or send your entry with name, mailing address, telephone number and age to: cindy.benson@cskt.org. We apologize, our mackdays.com website is not currently functioning.
Leto, “hidden one,” the $10,000 tagged lake trout is still eluding the anglers along with 3 - $5,000, and 6 - $1,000 (one sponsored by Bretz RV and Marine) tagged lake trout as well as over 9,000 with $100 and $500 values. These fish are the ones that anglers like to see at the end of their lines. Turning in tagged fish the third week were: Travis Banyai of Kalispell with $500 and turning in $100 tags were Tyler Varga, Matthew Mitts, Brodie Smith, Luke Smith, Collin Mitts, all Kalispell anglers, and Missoula angler, Jack Colyer.
Anglers’ rods were busy Friday and Saturday bringing in a few high lake trout numbers the first two days of the weekend. Friday the total was 1,390. Kalispell anglers Kolton Turner and Jason Mahlen had 100 entries each. Saturday’s total came in at 1,723-Kolton again had a 100 fish day. Sunday numbers were down with many anglers coming off the rough water early. Sunday’s total was 850. The weekend total came to 3,963. Every lake trout entry counts. Anglers come in with 1 to 100 lake trout and every fish counts. Lottery prizes are drawn using the angler’s daily counts. Each fish is entered into a file by using the angler’s ID number and random drawings are done using a computer app.
Kolton Turner is in first place in the Top Twenty category with 875,in 2nd place is Bob Turner of Kalispell with 760, in 3rd place is Jason Mahlen with 705, in 4th place is Jerry Benson of Plains with 508, in 5th place is Clint Spee of Kalispell with 501, in 6th place is Jake North of Denton with 455, in 7th place is Tyler Varga of Kalispell with 442, in 8th place is Gene Corne of Kalispell with 426, in 9th place is Ken Varga of Kalispell with 425, in 10th place is Mike Benson of Lonepine with 390, in 11th place is Bryan Long of Kalispell with 340, in 12th place is Travis Banyai of Kalispell with 331, in 13th place is Felix Gauci of Stevensville with 307, in 14th place is Larry Ashwell of Missoula with 299, in 15th place is David Kelch of Great Falls with 284, in 16th place is Larry Ludahl of Kalispell with 276, in 17th place is Dan Deutschman of Missoula with 265, in 18th place is Brodie Smith of Kalispell with 226, in 19th place is Jack Kirkland of Missoula with 205, and in 20th place is Joe Minnehan of Kalispell with 193.
Youth anglers who fish in the event are exceptional young men and ladies spending many hours on the water, loving what they are doing. Youth angler Eli Yang from Missoula is leading the 12 & under category with 31 entries. Mason Cusker of Bigfork is in 2nd place with 4, and Gage Spring of Alberton and James Kuchera of Kalispell each have 2.
The 13-17 category has Brodie Smith of Kalispell leading with 226 entries, he is currently in18th place in the Top Twenty, Kennedy Yang of Missoula is 2nd with 31, Lane Braza of Missoula is 3rd with 14, Matthew Mitts of Kalispell has 12, and Lucia Savoia of Missoula has 1. Thank you for supporting Mack Days.
Lady angler Julie Perkins of Kalispell is leading the ladies with 92, Shirley Batz of Kalispell is 2nd with 31, Melissa Triano of Bigfork is in 3rd with 24, Connie Jones of Kalispell is tied for 4th with Rebecca Spring of Alberton, each with 15.
First day of the Bucket Days was won by Collin and Matthew Mitts with a bucket weight of 19.15, in 2nd is Lyndon Lee of Kelowne, British Columbia, with 19.0, in 3rd Rick Skates of Big Arm with 16.95. The second day of the Bucket Competition is Saturday April 20th. Anglers put their four largest/heaviest fish under 30 inches on the scale and a weight is taken.
Kolton Turner has turned in the smallest lake trout so far at 166mm (6.5”). He also has the second smallest lake trout at 175mm (7”).
Weekend 3 drawing winners were: $200 for Kolton Turner and $100 for Kolton Turner, Shane Salminen of Eureka, Eric Lechleitner of Missoula, and Jeff Hale of Lolo.
Warming spring weather is on its way; come out and join in. Help save the native fish populations in Flathead Lake for future generations.
We would like to send out a big “Thank You” to Lake County Search & Rescue for giving a disabled boat a tow off the lake Sunday. Safety is a big consideration for the anglers, and they provide help when needed. It is greatly appreciated.
We remind anglers to be weather wise when fishing on Flathead Lake. Have the proper safety equipment on board, wear your PFD’s-life vests, keep cell phones dry, and let someone know your fishing plan. Be safe out there.
Good luck and tight lines everyone!
