2024 Spring Mack Days_Week 3 Results
2024 Spring Mack Days-week 3
After three weekends of fishing beneath the snowcapped Mission Mountains on
Flathead Lake, our Spring Mack Days angler’s total lake trout count stands at
13,417. Totals of past years 3-week mark are: 2023:11,315 entries, 2022: 9,039
entries, 2021:11,135 entries, 2020:12,925 entries, and 2019:13,622 entries.
These anglers are amazing fishermen and women who put in countless hours,
money, and effort making the events successful!
Mack Days Fishing Events are sponsored by the Confederated Salish and
Kootenai Tribes and are sanctioned by Montana Fish, Wildlife, and Parks. The
Fishing Events are a management tool used to reduce the non-native lake trout
population in Flathead lake. Increasing the native bull trout and westslope
cutthroat is important for the future of Flathead Lake fisheries by helping to
sustain populations of the bull trout and westslope cutthroat into the future. There
is UP TO $225,000 in Cash and Prizes sponsored by the Confederated Salish
and Kootenai Tribes that will be awarded at the conclusion of the event to many
hard-working anglers. Entries continue to be taken until the last day of the event.
Enter at the end of the day or send your entry with name, mailing address,
telephone number and age to cindy.benson@cskt.org . We apologize, our
mackdays.com website is not functioning at this time.
Leto “hidden one” the $10,000 tagged lake trout is still eluding the anglers along
with 3-$5,000, 6-$1,000-one sponsored by Bretz RV and Marine and over 9-000
with $100-$500 values. These fish are the ones that anglers like to see at the
end of their lines. Turning in tagged fish the third week were: Travis Banyai-
Kalispell $500–$100 tags Tyler Varga, Matthew Mitts, Brodie Smith, Luke Smith,
Collin Mitts-all Kalispell anglers and Missoula angler Jack Colyer.
Anglers rods were busy Friday and Saturday bringing in a few high lake trout
numbers the first two days of the weekend. Friday the total was 1,390. Kalispell
anglers Kolton Turner and Jason Mahlen had 100 entries each. Saturday’s total
came in at 1,723-Kolton again had a 100 fish day. Sunday numbers were down
with many anglers coming off the rough water early. Sundays total was 850. The
weekend total came to 3,963. Every lake trout entry counts-anglers come in with
Confederated Salish & Kootenai Tribes
Natural Resources Department
Division of Fish, Wildlife, Recreation & Conservation
P.O. Box 278
Pablo, MT 59855
(406) 675-2700 extension 7241
1 to 100 lake trout-every fish counts! Lottery prizes are drawn using the angler’s
daily counts. Each fish is entered into a file by using the angler’s ID number and
random drawings are done using a computer app.
Kolton Turner is in first place in the Top Twenty category with 875, 2 nd Bob
Turner-Kalispell-760, 3 rd Jason Mahlen-705, 4 th -Jerry Benson-Plains-508, 5 th –
Clint Speer-Kalispell-501, 6 th -Jake North-Denton-455, 7 th Tyler Varga-Kalispell-
442, 8 th Gene Corne-Kalispell-426, 9 th Ken Varga-Kalispell-425, 10 th Mike
Benson-Lonepine-390, 11 th Bryan Long-Kalispell-340, 12 th Travis Banyai-
Kalispell-331, 13 th Felix Gauci-Stevensville-307, 14 th Larry Ashwell-Missoula-299,
15 th David Kelch-Great Falls-284, 16 th Larry Ludahl-Kalispell-276, 17 th Dan
Deutschman-Missoula-265, 18 th -Brodie Smith-Kalispell-226, 19 th -Jack Kirkland-
Missoula-205, and 20 th -Joe Minnehan-Kalispell-193.
Youth anglers who fish in the event are exceptional young men and ladies
spending many hours on the water-loving what they are doing. Youth angler Eli
Yang from Missoula is leading the 12 & Under category with 31 entries. Mason
Cusker of Bigfork is in 2 nd with 4, and Gage Spring of Alberton and James
Kuchera of Kalispell each have 2.
The 13-17 category has Brodie Smith of Kalispell leading with 226 entries, he is
currently in 18 th place in the Top Twenty, Kennedy Yang of Missoula is 2 nd with
31, Lane Braza of Missoula is 3 rd with 14, Matthew Mitts of Kalispell has 12, and
Lucia Savoia of Missoula has 1. Thank you for supporting Mack Days!
Lady angler Julie Perkins of Kalispell is leading the ladies with 92, Shirley Batz of
Kalispell is 2 nd with 31, Melissa Triano of Bigfork is in 3 rd with 24, Connie Jones of
Kalispell is tied for 4 th with Rebecca Spring of Alberton each with 15.
First day of the Bucket Days was won by Collin and Matthew Mitts with a bucket
weight of 19.15, 2 nd Lyndon Lee of Kelowne BC was 2 nd with 19.0, 3 rd Rick Skates
of Big Arm 16.95. Second day of the Bucket Competition is Saturday April 20 th .
Anglers put their four largest/heaviest fish under 30 inches and a weight is taken.
Kolton Turner has turned in the smallest lake trout so far at 166mm (6.5”). He
also has the second smallest lake trout at 175mm (7”).
Weekend 3 Drawing Winners were: $200 Kolton Turner, $100-Kolton Turner,
Shane Salminen-Eureka, Eric Lechleitner-Missoula, and Jeff Hale-Lolo.
Warming spring weather is on its way-come out and join in. Help the native fish
populations in Flathead Lake for future generations.
We would like to send out a big “Thank You” to Lake County Search & Rescue
for giving a disabled boat a tow off the lake Sunday. Safety is a big consideration
for the anglers and you provide your help when needed. It is greatly appreciated.
We remind anglers to be weather wise when fishing on Flathead Lake, have the
proper safety equipment on board, wear your PFD’s-life vests, keep cell phones
dry, and let someone know your fishing plan. Be safe out there.
Good luck and tight lines everyone!