Mack Days: week nine update

If you are an avid lady angler and fishing on Mother's Day with your husband and son what could be better than to catch the fish of a life time? Nicole Peters, of Missoula, took first place in the large fish category of 2010 Spring Mack Days catching a 45" 38.4-pound lake trout on Sunday morning. Peters reported it took her 45 minutes to bring the large lake trout up from over 225' of water. After measurements and photos, she released the lake trout back into the lake. This lake trout measured longer than the current state record lake trout caught by Ruth Barber in 2004 which measured 42" but just didn't have enough weight to beat the record fish which weighed 42.6 pounds. Lake trout are a slow growing fish and the larger fish like this one can easily be over 40 years old. Peters leads the lady anglers with 289 entries.

Mack Days are sponsored by the Confederated Salish and Kootenai Tribes and sanctioned by Montana FWP as part of the Flathead Lake Co-Management Plan to slowly reduce numbers of non-native lake trout and increase numbers of native bull trout and westslope cutthroat trout in Flathead Lake. Prizes and awards in the Mack Days Event total $100,000 for the lake trout anglers. The Spring Event has been very successful with a total of 28,467 lake trout entries. The ninth weekend total was 4,130 making it the best weekend out of the nine so far. Anglers entered in the event total 1136. Two weekends are left in the eleven-week event which ends on May 23. Fifty fish per day limits were turned in by Stephen Naethe, with two, Steven Benson, Charles Forgey, Craig Morigeau, Roger Smart, Tyson Atkinson, Dan Long, Bob Turner, with two, Scott Bombard, Sid Bitney, with two, Dean Vaughan, Garett Vaughan, Don Peters, Shawn Madsen, Paul Soukup, Terry Krogstad, and Richard Zimmer.

Naethe reached his 15th best-day average of 50 fish per day on Friday. Total for Naethe after 27 days of fishing is 1,174 fish. Benson, of Columbia Falls, comes in second in total and 15-day average with 1,016 lake trout entries and a 48.93 15-day average. Michael Benson, of Lonepine, is in third with a total of 841 and fifth in 15-day average- 41.13. David McDaniel, of Polson, is fourth with 827 entries and third in 15 day average with 45.73. Forgey totals 756 for 5th in totals and 4th in average with 41.4. The placings for places could change with six more days left in the event. Only five of those days will count for the top angler awards since the last day is a separate day of totals and awards. Jerry Benson, of Plains, is sixth with 629, Morigeau, of Polson, is seventh with 622, Smart, of Ronan, is eighth with 611, Atkinson, of Charlo, is ninth with 571, and Long, of Columbia Falls, is 10th with 554.

Other ladies leading in the event are Laurie Randall, of St. Ignatius, with 200, Debbie O'Hara, of St. Ignatius, with 161, Deana Knipe, of Polson, with 128, Teena Zempel, of Ravalli, with 105, Charlotte Benson, of Plains, with 72, Kim McMillie, of Polson, with 67, and Terry Biere, of Butte, with 52.

Youth anglers following Naethe in the 13-17 age group are Brady Weible, of Charlo, with 160, Connor Kowalski, of Florence, with 53, Terry Biere, of Butte, with 52, and Scott Gilleard, of Charlo, with 18. The 12-and-under group is lead by Garett Vaughan, of Charlo, with 209, Tanner Murry, of Columbia Falls, with 116, Daniel Hunt, of St. Ignatius, with 79, Kobe Cox, of Charlo, with 71, and Roger Guillory, of Kalispell, with 65.

Tagged $100 lake trout were turned in by Bob Turner, of Kalispell, Bret Thompson, of Charlo, Naethe, Scott Bombard, of Missoula, Darwin Zempel, of Ravalli, Larry Schmill, of Missoula, Kim McMillie, of Polson, Tony McElwain, of Post Falls, Id., Greg Greenwell, of Missoula, Daniel Long, of Columbia Falls with two, Jeremy Plummer, of Kalispell. Bill Brovold, of Alberton, caught a $200 tagged fish. There are still over 2,000 tagged lake trout, two have $5,000 tags. Others have values from $100-$500.

The event ends on May 23 at Blue Bay with a fish fry beginning at 4 p.m. for anglers and the awards will begin at 5 p.m. Entries continue to be taken until the last day and can be picked up at area sporting goods stores, CSKT Natural Resources, or go to our website at www.mackdays.com for information on entering.

-Courtesy of Cynthia Bras