Spring Mack Days: Angler reels in Easter lunker

An Easter Surprise and a catch of a lifetime happened for Bryan Long of Columbia Falls over the fourth weekend of 2023 Spring Mack Days event on Flathead Lake. Instead of an Easter basket of goodies he reeled in a 36.65 lb., 45.5-inch lake trout. The girth on the large laker was 27 inches around.

Bryan said he could not believe how big the lake trout was when he first saw it. It came up on the far end of the boat and then went underneath it. Once he got a look he started calling for the net. He was fishing with a couple of other anglers who were able to help get the big lake trout into the boat. That is a lot of fish on the end of a line!

The Montana state record for a lake trout caught on Flathead Lake is held by Ruth Barber from Lakeside who caught a 42.69 lb., 42.5-incher on June 23, 2004. Bryan’s lake trout was longer but the girth was not as big as Ruth’s.

The head on his fish was as large as his, he said, and one of the first things he noticed once it was in the boat. Congratulations to Bryan on the first large fish entry to Bryan – which makes him eligible for Bretz RV and Marine’s $500 award given to the heaviest lake trout entry at the end of the event.

The largest lake trout caught for Mack Days was reeled in by Nicole Peters of Missoula who caught a 45-inch, 38.5 pounder on Mother’s Day in 2010.

Spring Mack Days is sponsored by the Confederated Salish and Kootenai Tribes and sanctioned by Montana Fish, Wildlife, and Parks. These events are used to reduce non-native lake trout numbers in Flathead Lake and increase native bull trout and westslope cutthroat populations.

Anglers are still looking for the $10,000 tagged lake trout; there are also three $5,000 and six $1,000 tagged fish and over 9,000 with values from $100-$500. Turning in $100 tagged fish the fourth week were: Claude Kaber, Whitefish, Cole Dehan of Missoula, and Sou Thao of Florence.

A total of 15,023 lake trout have been entered in the event so far. The Friday to Sunday total was 12,876 and Monday to Thursday’s lake trout entries were 2,147. The fourth weekend total is 3,376. The overall total for the 2022 event at this time was 11,014. Great job anglers!

Kolton Turner of Kalispell leads all anglers with 1,044 lake trout entries. Kolton had 47 on Friday, 100 on Saturday, and 94 on Sunday. His fishing partner and dad, Bob Turner, comes in at second with 836 entries (97, 81 and 67 were his weekend tallies). Jason Mahlen of Kalispell is third with 679 (100 caught Friday); fourth is Jerry Benson of Plains with 652 (weekend tally: 31, 79, 52; and Mike Benson of Lonepine is fifth with 590 (weekend: 64, 40 and 37).

Leah Banyai of Kalispell leads the Ladies category with 140, followed by Julie Perkins of Kalispell with 91, Connie Jones of Kalispell with 35, Amanda Hoback of Arlee with five, and Desiree McIlhargey of Kalispell with three.

Wyatt Best of Florence is first in the 12 and under with 14; and Brodie Smith of Kalispell is first in the 13-17 age group with 119.

The 70 and Over group is led by Mike Benson with 590, followed by Terry Krogstad with 447, Larry Ashwell of Missoula with 282, Larry Karper of Florence with 268, and Jack Kirkland of Lolo with 160.

New entries are taken until the last day of the event. For more information, visit the website at www.mackdays.com or contact Cindy Benson at 406-270-3386 or cindy.benson@cskt.org.