Kolton Turner still leads Mack Days totals with 1,468

Kolton Turner of Kalispell remains ahead in Spring Mack Days, with 14 days of catching 100 fish. He leads the Top Twenty category with a total of 1,468.

Mack Days Fishing Events on Flathead Lake are sponsored by the Confederated Salish and Kootenai Tribes and are used as a tool to reduce the non-native lake trout and increase native bull trout and westslope cutthroat in Flathead Lake. The event continues through May 10. 

Bob Turner of Kalispell remains in second place with his tally of 1,413. He’s followed by Jason Mahlen of Kalispell, 1,412; David Myers of Riverton, Wyo., with 1,250; and Clint Speer of Kalispell with 1,056.

Julie Perkins leads the Ladies Category with 491; she’s followed by Janet Myers of Riverton, Wyo., with 319; Connie Jones of Kalispell and Shaunda Albert of Ronan, who are tied with 126; and Laurie Bouley of Columbia Falls with 41.

Friday’s total entries were 2,174 fish, Saturday’s count was 1,461, Sunday was 2,168. The Monday-to-Thursday total is 6,491 bringing the tally so far in this event to 34,179.

Strong winds and waves on Saturday brought many off the water early. Fortunately, anglers were given a heads up by good weather advisories from the National Weather Service and were anticipating the wind coming up.

Michael Goven of Kalispell and Robert Turner each turned in $100 tagged lake trout. Willy, the elusive lake trout with a $10,000 tag, is still out there. There are also three worth $5,000, four with $1,000 tags, and more than 9,000 with values from $100-$500.

Tagged lake trout give information on growth rates of the fish. Everyone knows they move around in the lake but the tagged fish really show how they move from one end of the lake to the other end. A good example is the $1,000 tagged fish caught by Michael Stevenson of Kalispell on April 5. It had been tagged in Skidoo Bay on March 4 and caught on the north end of the lake in the Delta area, so it moved the full length of the lake in that month.

Dave Myers of Riverton, Wyo, has fished 32 days straight – every single day of the event. The lowest number of entries he has turned in for a day is 21 and he has turned in 100-fish limits on seven days out of the 15 weekend fishing days. His wife, Janet, joins him out on the water most days, also fishing many hours on the lake.

Dave sits in fourth place in the Top Twenty Category with 1,250 entries and Janet is sitting in second place in the Ladies’ Category with 371 entries.

Another rod-and-reel event happened Sunday when one was pulled overboard – this happens every so often and it an awful feeling when you watch your pole going down and fading out of sight.

Fishing with two rods is tricky! Jeff Hale had a fish on one rod and was retrieving what he thought was a smaller lake trout and all of a sudden, he felt something hit the back of his leg. Looking around, he realized it had to be his other pole at the same time it went whizzing over the side of the boat. No retrieval was possible as it sank to the depths of the lake!

His brother, Scott, had an extra pole he lent him so back to fishing he went. About an hour later he hooked onto something that felt strange and then he realized it felt like a large lake trout at the end of the line. He started reeling it in and up came his other line with a big laker at the end of it and a smaller lake trout on the other line.

By the time they had the big fish landed, four lines were tangled up which requires a lot of patience to untangle. The good news is Jeff added two lake trout to his entries for the day and was very happy to have his pole back!

Brodie Smith of Kalispell continues to bring in large numbers of entries. He has been fishing for several years and is first in the 13-17 Category with 546 lake trout entries. Second is Fjord Borgen of Kalispell with 14, followed by David Gerspach of Kila and Sawyer Clark of Columbia Falls, who are tied for third with three entries.

Benjamin Dieterich of Kalispell is first in the 12 & Under with 22 entires, followed by Carter Lindsay of Pablo with 14, Mason Cusker of Bigfork with 6, Wyatt Best of Florence with 3, and Allyvia Yang of Missoula with two.

Jerry Benson leads in the 70 & Over with 990 lake trout entries, followed by Michael Benson with 802, Terry Krogstad with 676, Jack Kirkland with 660, and Larry Ashwell with 592.     

Smallest lake trout entries are Mike Colyer of Missoula with a 164mm (6.5”) lake trout and Korey Heindahl of Kalispell with a 162mm lake trout.

Matt Brazda of Missoula still holds the lead in the largest fish category with a 36.25-inch, 20.5-pound lake trout. Entries must be more than 36 inches and 20 pounds.

Weekend winners are Devon Burkowski of Kalispell, $200; and David Kelch of Great Falls, Brodie Smith, David Myers and Bob Stewart of Kalispell, $100 each.

The second of the Bucket Days is Saturday, April 19. Winner with the heaviest bucket receives $200.

Time to get out on the water and try your luck. The $10,000 lake trout, Willy, may be waiting for you. All it takes is one fish to win in the lottery drawings.

Bonus dollars begin when an angler’s entries get to 11 and go up as the total number of entries go up. Check out the bonus chart on the website and sign up at www.mackdays.com, which offers information on the event, fishing tips, rules, and a summary of activities from 2023 fisheries management on the lake, with a lot of information on the tools being used in this effort.

Be safe and please follow all safety precautions and be aware of weather predictions. It’s Spring in Montana, so anything is possible!