Mack Days: week three update
Seventeen-year-old Stephen Naethe, of Pablo, holds up his 30 pound catch from last weekend. It took hime 30 minutes to bring it up out of the deep water and is atop the large fish category.
Hard fishing lake trout anglers are making the 2010 Spring Event very successful and have entered 9,822 lake trout entries at the end of the first three weekends of the 11-week event. Mack Days Events are 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 balance the fishery of Flathead Lake by slowly reducing non-native lake trout and increasing numbers of native bull trout and westslope cutthroat trout. Anglers are competing for $100,000 in cash and prizes to be given away at the conclusion of the event. There are 972 anglers registered in the Spring Event. Entries continue to be taken until the last day.
Continuing to lead the top ten anglers in total count is Pablo's seventeen-year-old youth angler Stephen Naethe with 426 entries. Steven Benson, of Columbia Falls, moved into second with 303 entries, Don Peters, of Missoula, has 298, Charles Forgey, of Arlee, had 279, Gerald Willet, of Townsend, has 265, Michael Benson, of Hot Springs, has 253, David McDaniel, of Polson, has 245, Dean Vaughan, of Charlo, has 207, Nicole Peters, of Missoula, has 203 and Roger Smart, of Ronan, with 199 rounds out the top-ten anglers.
Four anglers on Friday reached their 50 fish limit; Stephen Naethe and brothers Steven Benson, Jerry Benson and Michael Benson all caught limits. Saturday, 50 fish limits were harder to come by with Stephen Naethe and David McDaniels the only anglers to limit out. On Sunday, Naethe, David McDaniels, Don Peters, Justin Lockwood and Michael Benson reached the 50 fish limit. Most anglers are fishing-jigging-anchored stationary in depths from 170' to 290' of water. Trollers are starting to turn in higher numbers of lake trout from the north end and from around Wild Horse and there is increased activity on the Delta Area up at the mouth of the Flathead River both jigging and trolling.
Lady anglers lead by Nicole Peters, of Missoula, has 203, Charlotte Benson, of Plains, has 56, Terry Biere, of Butte, has 52, Deana Knipe,of Polson, has 46, Amber Wock-Sturgis, of Missoula, has 41, Debbie O'Hara, of St Ignatius, has 29, Michelle Zempel, of Polson, has 28, Nancy Ryan, of Sula, has 24, Cindy Upwell, of Kalispell, has 15, Cindy Howe, of Kalispell, has 14, and Kim McMillie, of Polson, has 13 and Kimberly Biere, of Butte, has 12.
Sunday morning an excited and wore out Naethe measured in a 41" 30.4 lb. large lake trout entry. Taking 30 minutes to bring it up out of the deep water, it leads the large fish category moving William Brovolds 25.8 lake trout out of the lead. Naethe reported that it is largest lake trout he has ever caught. He released it back into the lake after measurements were taken. Brovold is up for the challenge and is eagerly planning to enter another large entry. Nicole Peters turned in the smallest lake trout so far in the event with it measuring 221mm.
Top youth anglers following Naethe in the 13-17 age group is Brady Weible, of Moise, with 54, Terry Biere, of Butte, with 52, Connor Kowalski, of Florence, with 11 and Keegan Noyd, of Missoula, with nine. Garett Vaughan, of Charlo, leads the 12-and-under group with 38 entries, Kobe Cox, ,of Charlo, has 27, Daniel Hunt, of St. Ignaitus, has 25, Roger Guillory, of Kalispell, has 21, Myles Tripp, of Missoula, has 14, Kimberly Biere, of Butte, has 12, Stetson Stipe, of Moiese, has 11, Grace Noyd, of Missoula, has eight, Donald Soukup, of Ronan, has seven. We appreciate the hard work these young anglers are putting into this event.
Tagged fish worth $100 were turned in by Justin Lockwood, Rusty Hunt, of St. Ignatius, Tony Incashola, of St. Ignatius.
As their totals go up anglers receive more in bonus amounts at the end of the event but all it takes is one ticket in the drawing to win one of the cash prizes that will be drawn for. The cash prizes begin at $1,000 and go to $200. There are several ways to win-smallest fish, largest fish, most fish. The event ends on May 23rd with a fish fry and the awards.
Check the Web site at www.mackdays.com for more information on entries, totals and anglers standings in the event. For questions or comments call us at 406-883-2888 ex. 7294.