Mack Days update - Week 5

Almost halfway through the 34-day 2014 Spring Mack Days Fishing Event, there is a large fish entry.

Fourteen-year-old Danner Shima, of Kalispell, was fishing with his brother, Austin, and grandfather, Mike Shima, of Polson, on Friday. Danner caught a fish and immediately knew it was a big one. His line began screaming as the big fish went to the bottom of the lake and Austin and Mike began giving advice. Austin told Danner that it was going to be a winner. It took Danner 45 minutes to get the big guy in. They were pretty excited when they realized how large the lake trout actually was.

The Shimas put the big fish in a large cooler with water and headed in to enter it. A large lake trout entry has to be alive to be entered in the event. The large lake trout made the qualifying weight of 24 pounds exactly and measured in at 40 inches. Danner and his brother took the big fish down to the shore and released it back into the water making sure it swam away into deeper water.

Big fish like the one Danner caught are slow-growing and can reach 30-40 years of age. The large fish category closes on May 17. The winner of the large fish category receives $500. The last winner of a large fish was Danner’s father, Ryan Shima. He was working on Friday and didn’t get to see the action but was receiving reports by telephone. Ryan Shima turned in a 24.5-pound, 42.5-inch lake trout in the 2012 Spring Event.

Sponsored by the Confederated Salish and Kootenai Tribes and sanctioned by Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks, the Mack Days Fishing Event has up to $150,000 in cash and prizes that will be awarded at the conclusion of the event. Mack Days are used as a tool to slowly reduce the numbers of non-native lake trout in Flathead Lake. All it takes is one fish to win. Entries are taken until the last day of the event.

Weekend weather was once again a mixture of sun, snow, rain and freezing temperatures. Friday was the best day of the weekend for fishing. There was a total of 1,034 entries. On Saturday wind drove almost all anglers into shore to wait out a storm that brought strong wind gusts and huge waves. Total fish count for Saturday was 405. Sunday morning, temps caused boats to ice over as the anglers were going out in the choppy waters. Spray froze onto boats and equipment making the bottom of the boats like ice rinks. Equipment and lines froze solid. Several boats still had ice when coming back in in the evening. Sunday’s total came to 850.

Jason Mahlen, of Kalispell, increased his numbers to 777 with entries over the weekend of 91, 3 and 39 pounds. Scott Bombard, of Missoula, moved to second with 635 and weekend numbers of 45, 27 and 60. Mike Benson, of Lonepine, has 583, 38 and 34 for the weekend, Kevin Burns, of Kalispell, has 576 with weekend entries of 41, 43 and 43, and Terry Krogstad, of Kalispell, with 526 and 30, 27 and 57.

The ladies’ leader is Julie Vacca of Florence.

The 70 & Over category has another Florence angler leading: Larry Karper has entered 275 lake trout. Conn Hodgson of Kalispell is second with 134, and Roger Smart third with 54. The 10 & under group is led by Matthew Guckenberg of Kalispell with 79.

There are some very strong anglers in the 13-17 group. Danner Shima is in first with 271; second is Garett Vaughan, of Charlo, with 198; third is Roger Guillory, of Kalispell, with 172; fourth is Kobe Cox, of Charlo, with 119, and fifth is Keaten Turner of Kalispell with 92.

There are more than 5,000 tagged lake trout which value from $100 to $10,000. The tags are imbedded into the fish. They have a fin clip and are scanned when brought in for entry.

Craig Morigeau of Polson, Stan Ross, Nick Bennett, Bob Stewart, and Ryan Shima, of Kalispell, Brandon Gilleard, of Charlo, Danny Smith, of Hot Springs, and Scott Bombard, of Missoula all turned in $100 tagged lake trout. Bryan Long, of Columbia Falls, turned in a $200 tagged fish.

Mack Days continues until May 18. Go to www.mackdays.com for information about the event.