Week one Spring Mack Days results annnounced
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FLATHEAD LAKE — The 2025 Spring Mack Days Fishing Event on Flathead Lake started out with anglers saying “Fish On” many times over the first few days of the event. 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 event in several different ways. Categories are set up for the Top Twenty Anglers, Ladies, Youth, 70 & Over, Captains, Weekend Prizes, and Weekday Prizes. Thirty lottery prizes begin at $500 and go to $2,000 - all it takes is one fish to win in the lottery drawings. Bonus dollars are set by totals of fish that anglers turn in once they have 10 fish entered. Bonus dollars add up every day of the event.
Mack Days are a tool used by the fisheries program to help increase native bull trout and westslope cutthroat populations in Flathead Lake. Go to the website: www.mackdays.com for information on the many different ways to win.
“Willy” where are you? Willly will be the most popular fish call on the lake. Willy has a $10,000 pit tag and will be sought after by all anglers. There are also three - $5,000, five - $1,000, and over 9,000 other fish with values from $100 to $500. Bob Bouchee of Missoula and Larry Ashwell of Missoula were lucky $500 tag winners. Jason Mahlen of Kalispell, Ray Wolf of Lago Vista, Texas, fishing with Big Sky Fishing Charters-Captains Chris Mischke, and Devon Burkowki of Kalispell, turned in $100 tags.
First entry in the largest lake trout category was off the Big Sky Fishing Charter boat. Phil Sanger of Austin, Texas, caught a 38 lake trout weighing 20.35 pounds. The smallest lake trout entries are a 164mm (6.5”) fish caught by Mike Colyer of Missoula and a 218mm (8.5’) fish caught by Clint Speer of Kalispell.
All of these anglers put in many, many hours on the lake in some extreme weather conditions at times. They are determined, tenacious, and tough. Every one of them are contributing to the program and helping in this conservation effort to bring back the native fish populations in Flathead Lake.
Some of the anglers started on Thursday, which was a banner day for a first day of fishing as there were 1,215 lake trout turned in. Turning in 100 fish were: Jerry Benson, David Meyers, Jason Mahlen, Bob Turner, and Kolton Turner. That is a great start and total for the first weekend, the total for all four days was 6,677.
Friday fishing ended with a 10-way tie for first place with ten anglers turning in full 100 fish limits: Larry Ashwell of Missoula, Mike Benson of Lonepine, Jerry Benson- of Plains, David Meyers of Riverton, Wyoming, Clint Speer of Kalispell, Jason Mahlen-Kalispell, Ken Varga-Kalispell, Bob Turner-Kalispell, Kolton Turner-Kalispell, Travis Banyai of Lakeside - all had perfect fish totals. Friday’s total came to 2,273, which is a record for a first day total. Saturday 100’s continued for: Jason Mahlen, Bob Turner, Kolton Turner, and Jerry Benson. Saturday’s total was 2,016. Kolton Turner, Bob Turner and Jason Mahlen continued with 100 fish runs and with ending weekend totals of 300 each on Sunday. Fourth place is held by Jerry Benson with 267, fifth place is Mike Benson with 258, sixth place is David Meyers with 257, seventh place is Clint Speer with 240, eighth place isTerry Krogstad of Kalispell with 226, ninth place is Julie Perkins of Kalispell with 178, tenth and eleventh places are Larry Ashwell of Missoula and Larry Ludahl of Kalispell, twelvth place is Gene Corne of Kalispel with163, thirteenth place is Travis Banyai with155, fourteenth place is Patrick Casey of Townsend with 142, fifteenth place is Cory Speer of Athol, Idaho,sixteenth place is Jack Kirkland of Lolo with 136, seventeenth place is Sam Cusker of Bigfork with 128, eighteenth place is Ken Varga of Kalispell with 116, nineteenth place is David Kelch of Great Falls with 112, and in twentiethplace is Steve Andrachick from Kalispell.
The total for Sunday was 1,173. Julie Perkins leads the Ladies with 178, in second place is Janey Meyers of Riverton, Wyoming, Connie Jones of Kalispell comes in with 19, and Shaunda Albert of Ronan has 16.
Brodie Smith of Kalispell is in the 13-17 Category and has grown up fishing Mack Days for several years. He turned in 90 for his first weekend. Benjamin Dieterich of Kalispell has a total of 15 entries.
A huge “thank you” goes out to all anglers. You make this happen. It is not too late to join in. Entries are taken until the last day of the event, which is Saturday, May 10. Come out and enjoy the beauty of Flathead Lake while trying your luck fishing for lake trout. Go to the website: www.mackdays.com for information on entry, fish ID, etc.
We remind everyone to stay safe, watch weather predictions, have proper gear, keep cell phones in a dry area, and have a plan that someone knows about. Mack Days are sanctioned by Montana Fish, Wildlife, and Parks.
Tight lines and good luck everyone.
