Orsua lands 31-pounder during Mack Days

| March 18, 2009 11:00 PM

The race is on. Spring Mack Days began March 13 and continues on Fridays, Saturdays, and Sundays until April 26. More than $45,000 in cash and prizes sponsored by the Confederated Salish and Kootenai Tribes will be given away at the conclusion of the event. Mack Days are used as a management tool as part of the Flathead Lake Co-management Plan to reduce numbers of non-native lake trout and restore a balance of native trout in Flathead Lake.

A total of 1,669 lake trout were turned in over the weekend.

Youth angler Stephen Naethe of Pablo leads with 123 lake trout entered. Mike Benson of Hot Springs comes in second with 116, and Paul Haines of Pablo has a total of 113. Fourth place is held by Bernd Albrecht of Polson with 74, and Dean Vaughan of Charlo is fifth with 58.

Seven tagged lake trout were turned in over the weekend. Friday the "Motley Crew" of Greg Karlson of Missoula, and Dan Smith and Barr Petlodo of Hot Springs turned in two tagged fish with values of $500 and $100. Mike Howe of Kalispell also turned in a tagged laker with a tag worth $100. On Saturday Howe again was lucky and came up with a $100 tag along with Steve Foley with a $100 tag. After fishing for 12 hours on a rough choppy lake on Sunday Stephen Naethe of Pablo was surprised with $200 and $100 tags.

The largest lake trout ever turned in during Mack Days history was entered on Saturday by Captain Bob Orsua of Mo Fish Charters out of Lakeside. This fish measured 43 inches and weighed in at 31.1 pounds. The largest lake trout entry at the end of the event wins $500 with second place $100.

Smallest lake trout entries are held by Naethe with a 217mm and Dennis Cornelius of Kalispell with a 255mm entry.

Naethe leads the youth division with 123. Terry Biere-Butte is second with 48, and Keegan Noyd of Missoula is third with 20.

Entries continue to be taken until the last day of the event. Go to www.mackdays.com for the e-mail address on the entry page, phone (406) 883-2888, ext. 7282 or 7294, or fax your name, address, telephone number to (406) 883-2897. (All rules of the event are to be read and followed and apply to all persons entered.)