2010 Spring Mack Days: week four updates

The fourth weekend of the Spring Mack Days Fishing Event has ended with a total of 1,017 anglers registered and 11,835 lake trout being entered in the event sponsored by the Confederated Salish and Kootenai Tribes and sanctioned by Montana Fish, Wildlife, and Parks as part of the Flathead Lake Co-Management Plan to reduce non-native lake trout and increase the numbers of bull trout and westslope cutthroat trout in Flathead Lake. Spring Mack Days is a weekend - Friday, Saturday, Sunday - event and continues until May 23. All it takes is one fish to win in the lottery style drawing held the last day of the event.

Friday was a little breezy with spring winds in the morning turning into a beautiful afternoon and evening for fishing. Limits of 50 were reached by Charles Forgey, of Arlee, and Steven Benson, of Columbia Falls. A total of 994 lake trout were turned in at the end of the day. Saturday was very windy but there were still some resilient avid anglers who turned in 235 lake trout. Jason Mahlen of Kalispell was high count with 23 lake trout. Easter Sunday was a calmer day on the water for fishing with the total for the day at 774. Stephen Naethe and David McDaniels were at 50 fish limits. The fourth weekend total was the lowest so far at 2,003 but still successful despite the famous winds of Flathead on Saturday and Easter on Sunday.

The top ten anglers after the 12th day of fishing are Stephen Naethe, of Pablo with 530, Steven Benson, of Columbia Falls, with 411, Charles Forgey, of Arlee with 353, Michael Benson, of Hot Springs, with 348, Don Peters, of Missoula, with 312, David McDaniel, of Polson, with 310, Gerald Willet, of Townsend, with 265, Jerry Benson, of Plains, with 259, Jason Fuhrmann, of Charlo, with 251, and Roger Smart, of Ronan, with 241.

Leading the lady anglers is Nicole Peters, of Missoula, with 209, Charlotte Bensom, of Plains, with 56, Debbie O'Hara, of St.Ignatius, with 46, Deana Knipe, of Polson, with 46, and Amber Sturgis, of Missoula, with 41.

Youth anglers' leading in the 17-13 group, after Naethe's 530, is second place Brady Weible, of Charlo, with 70, Terry Biere, of Butte, with 52, Connor Kowalski, of Florence, with 12, Jake Shaffer, of Somers, with 8, and Eric Sams, of Polson, with 4. The 12 & under group is lead by Garett Vaughan, of Charlo, with 46, Roger Guillory, of Kalispell, with 35, Kobe Cox, of Charlo, with 34, Daniel Hunt, of St. Ignatius, with 29, and Donald Soukup, of Ronan, with 16.

The largest fish category is held by Stephen Naethe with his 41" 30.4 lb. lake trout and the smallest fish is lead by Nicole Peters with a 221mm lake trout. Second place is tied three ways with Marty Noyd, of Missoula, Jim Auger, of Missoula, and Larry Schmill, of Missoula all turning in 224mm lake trout.

Sunday six tagged lake trout were turned in. Winners of $200 were Scot Bombard, of Missoula and Tyson Cottet, of Charlo. Jason Kowalski, of Florence, Brady Weible, of Charlo, Justin Shockley, of Plains, and Tyson Atkinson, of Charlo were $100 winners.

Entries continue to be taken until the last day of the event. For information about the event, prizes, bonuses, or angler counts go to www.mackdays.com or telephone 883-2888 ex. 7294.

-Courtesy of Cynthia Bras