Mack Days third week has biggest haul so far in fall competition

The 2012 Fall Mack Days Fishing Event concluded its third weekend of lake trout fishing with its highest total number of fish caught in one weekend so far this season with 1,494 lake trout entries.

Mack Days anglers struggled Friday with rough water but still brought in a total of 342 lake trout entries.

Max Martz of Corvallis was high angler with 51 lake trout entries. Saturday’s total was 548 with Alvin Haase of Stevensville as high angler with 47 entries. Sunday’s total was 604 with Steve Benson of Four Lakes, Wash. leading the pack that day with 59 lake trout. Scott Bombard of Missoula and Terry Krogstad each had 56. The total for the first three weekends is 4,257.

Mike Benson of Lonepine leads anglers with a total of 378, Bombard is in second place with 312, and Martz is third with 306.

Steve Benson is in fourth place with 294, Craig Morigeau of Polson is fifth with 187, Phil Meredith of Kalispell is sixth with 173, Larry Karper of Florence is seventh with 159, Alvin Haase of Stevensville is eighth with 151, Don Beville of Lakeside is ninth with 147, and Chad Cottet of Polson is 10th with 136.

In the ladies division, Kim McMillie of Ronan leads the way with 34 lake trout entries followed by Sharon Beville of Lakeside with 27 and Julie Vacca of Florence with 22. Susan Martin of Polson is in fourth place with 17 and Kathryn Cox of Rollins is in fifth with 15.

In the youth 13-17 category, Eric Sams of Polson is in the lead with 36 followed by Cody Ashbury of Missoula with five and Tom McDonald of Niarada with three. The under-12 category only has two entries so far with Missoula’s Mark Herzog with five lake trout entries and Garett Vaughan of Charlo with three.

So far there have been 39 tagged lake trout turned in for the event, totaling $4,700.

John Gauci and Karper of Florence, Terry Krogstad, Reed Blackburn, and Benson of Lonepine each turned in $100 tagged fish this week. Meredith had two $100 tagged fish.

Bombard caught a $200 tagged fish and Gauci caught a tagged fish worth $500.

Competitive fishing for Mack Days is held Fridays, Saturdays, and Sundays until Oct. 28 and then from Nov. 2-11 it’s 10 straight days of Flathead Lake fishing.

The Confederated Salish and Kootenai Tribes sponsor the Mack Days Events, which are used to slowly reduce the non-native lake trout numbers in Flathead Lake. The event is sanctioned by Montana Fish, Wildlife, and Parks. Event organizers encourage anglers to be a part of the fishing events and be involved in making a difference for the native species in the lake by slowly reducing the numbers of lake trout.

Up to $125,000 in cash and prizes will be awarded at the conclusion this fall’s Make Days event.

Every lake trout entered earns the angler a ticket in the lottery-style drawing for 50 cash awards, which range from $200-1,000. There are several additional ways to win in the event, including captain’s prizes, smallest fish, largest fish, ladies, youth categories, and the over-70 category.

There is no entry fee and entries are taken until the last day of the event.

The tagged fish category has one $10,000 prize fish, five $5,000 tagged-fish, and 10 worth $1,000. There are also over 4,000 $100-500 tagged lake trout that have been released in Flathead Lake. The most valuable tagged-fish were released the week before the event began and were located in several areas of the lake. Once an angler reaches 20 entries they receive bonus amounts depending on their total at the end of the event.

For information go to www.mackdays.com or call 883-2888 ex. 7294.