Fall Mack Days competition nearing end

In the seventh week of 2016 Fall Mack Days, Terry Krogstad of Kalispell continues to lead the 452 anglers in the competition. Saturday was a beautiful day on the lake and the fish were biting, with a total of 905 lake trout entered. Blustery and cold weather dropped Sundays dropped this number to 381, however. A total of 14,688 lake trout have been turned in with one week remaining in the two month-long event. 

Terry has the lead with 1,185 entries and a 15-day average of 70.3 fish. Krogstad turned in 61 fish on Friday, 84 on Saturday and 35 on Sunday for a total of 180 entries. Mike Benson of Lonepine is second with 1,136 entries with a total of 160 for the weekend. Felix Gauci of Stevensville is in third place with 703 total entries and a 42-fish 15-day average. In fourth place and leading the Golden Oldie (age 70 and older) category is Larry Karper from Florence with 601 fish and a 37.9 15-day average. Sam Cusker of Whitefish is fifth with 542. Scott Bombard of Missoula is sixth with 534 fish. Richard Kreis of Huson is seventh with 458 fish. Larry Ashwell of Missoula is eight with 455 fish. Bob Stewart of Kalispell is ninth with 377 and Danny Smith of Hot Springs has 331 for tenth place. Final placing in the top ten anglers competition is based on the best 15-day average.  

There are six days of fishing left in the event. Anglers fish Tuesday through Thursday for bonus amounts and tagged fish and Friday through Saturday for the contest portion of the event. Sunday is a separate day with separate prizes for the day. All fish are to be turned in by 3 p.m. on Sunday. The fish fry will begin at 3 p.m. and the award ceremony will take place at 4 p.m. at the Blue Bay Campground.

Laurie Kreis of Huson is in first of the ladies category with 174 fish. Brandy Hilde of Whitefish is second with 119. Jeanee Mooney of Missoula is third with 109. Gina Schiff of Whitefish is fourth with 76, and Deb Amdahl of Kalispell is fifth with 53. Bear Malatare of Arlee, Richard Kreis, Scott Bombard, Mike Benson, Tim Mooney, Larry Ashwell, Steve Mack, & Jeanee Mooney of Missoula, Bob Stewart, Paul Soukup of Ronan, Greg Karlson of Hot Springs, and Sam Cusker each turned in $100 tagged fish over the weekend. Terry Krogstad turned in two $200 tagged lake trout. The $10,000 tagged lake trout is still out there, along with three fish worth $5,000, five fish worth $1,000 and over 7,000 carrying values ranging from $100 to $500. Since 2007, tagged fish have been used for measuring growth, movement and other types of information.

Marty Herak of Charlo won the third day of the Heaviest Bucket of Fish competition, turning in a four-fish bucket that weighed 23.75 pounds. The overall winner of the three days of that competition is Richard and Laurie Kreis of Huson with 20 points overall. Second place goes to Monte and Donna McPherson of Silverdale, Wash., with 14 points, and third place goes to Roger and Gina Schiff and Jerry Luderman of Whitefish with 12 points. 

Dawson Adley of Pablo is in first place in the 12 and younger group with fish. Ellyanna Tripp of Missoula and Hayden Hall of Missoula are tied for second with two fish each. Tied for third is Dalton Kleusner of Frenchtown, Connor Foley of Kalispell, Keenan Foley of Kalispell and Bailey Randall of Missoula, each with one entry.

Tyler Varga of Kalispell is holding onto first place in the 13-17 age group with 53 fish. Danner Shima of Kalispell is second with 12 and Ayden Tripp of Missoula is third with one. 

Larry Karper is first in the 70 and older category with 601 fish. Bob Christensen of Missoula is second with 175. In third is Glenn Hoffman of Missoula with 164. Leonard Lewis is fourth with 109, and Gerald Luderman of Kalispell is fifth with 41.

It is not too late to come out and enjoy a day of fishing during Fall Mack Days on Flathead Lake. Shore fishing is picking up and boats are using all techniques and methods to catch the lake trout. All it takes is one fish to win.

The events are used as a management tool to reduce non-native lake trout in Flathead Lake and increase the native bull trout and westslope cutthroat trout.neast day of the event. There is no entry fee. Visit www.mackdays.com for information.