The fish keep coming during Mack Days' 5th weekend

POLSON — It was another great weekend of lake trout fishing on Flathead Lake during 2009 Spring Mack Days. Stephen Naethe, sixteen-year-old Pablo angler, is holding on to the lead in after five weeks of the Fishing Event sponsored by the Confederated Salish and Kootenai Tribes and sanctioned by Montana FWP. Stephen dropped to second on Friday night after turning in 21 entries compared to Ronan’s Paul Haines with 39 lake trout entries. Saturday’s perfect 50 put him back in the lead and a total of 31 entries on Sunday topped off his weekend of lake trout fishing putting his total at 536 with Paul currently in second with 506. The lead has changed several times during this event and with a daily limit of 50 fish can continue to change between the top experienced anglers.

The top ten angler’s placing is determined by the best 12-day average at the conclusion of the event. Mike Benson of Hot Springs moved into third with 316; Dan Smith of Hot Springs is 4th with 312; Dean Vaughan of Charlo is 5th with 310; Greg Karlson of Missoula is 6th with 264; Roger Smart of Ronan is 7th with 240; Don Peters of Florence/Polson is 8th with 232; Nicole Peters is 9th with 215; and Bernd Albrecht of Polson is 10th with 206.

Youth anglers continue to be lead by Stephen with 536 and 2nd is Terry Biere of Butte with 61. Charlo’s very avid youth angler Garett Vaughan fished for three days and increased his total to 45; Tanner Murry of Columbia Falls,another youth angler that is serious about this sport, has a total of 34; Alexander Brown of Lakeside, three days for the weekend, with 26; and Keegan Noyd of Missoula with 24.

Nicole Peters, lady angler, is in 1st place with 215; 2nd is Susanne Albrecht of Polson with 101; 3rd is Cindy Howe of Kalispell with 92; 4th is Debbie O’Hara of St. Ignatius with 50; 5th is Deana Knipe of Polson with 40; 6th is Janet Smith of Bigfork with 36; 7th is Amy Cool of Missoula with 33; 8th is Gina Biere of Butte with 24; 9th is Charlotte Benson with 24; and 10th is Michelle Slyder of Roundup with 23.

Lake trout entries for the fifth weekend were 2,375. Total of the five weekends is now at 9,300. Total at the end of the 2008 Spring Event was 9,910. There are two weekends to go in the 21-day event with the last day being a separate day for prizes but it does count for the bonus totals for the anglers.

Four $100 tagged fish were turned in over the weekend by Nicole Peters, Don Peters, Mike Upwell of Kalispell, and Roger Dilts of Polson. Turning in a $200 tagged fish was Bill Sullivan of Missoula. Those along with Paul Soukup’s $100 fish we missed last weekend put the total of tagged fish turned in at 26 worth $3,900. There are still two $5,000 lake trout and over 1000 with values up to the $5,000 out there.

All it takes is one fish to be eligible for the lottery prizes that begin at $1,000 and go to $200. Over $45,000 in cash and prizes sponsored by CSKT will go to the participating anglers. Mack Days Events are used as a tool to slowly reduce the numbers of non-native lake trout in Flathead Lake and increase the numbers of native westslope cutthroat trout and bull trout. “Like a family heirloom passed from generation to generation, Montana’s native fish are among the treasures that make Montana such a special place. Montana’s native fish are Nature’s Keepers, and it’s up to all of us to keep it that way” - Montana FWP. April 26th awards and fish fry will begin at 4 p.m. at Salish Point.

Entries continue to be taken until the last day of the event. Go to www.mackdays.com for information or telephone (406) 883-2888, ext. 7294 - weekends call (406) 982-3142 for the Blue Bay Headquarters.