Independently owned since 1905
Independently owned since 1905
Mike Benson of Lonepine racked up his fifth overall Mack Days win over the weekend with just over 1,000 fish. Benson took first place with 1,005 lake trout entries and an average of 52.87 per day. Benson said that while it was his fifth win in the tournament, he has also finished second 10 times.
Second place went to Felix Gauci of Stevensville (780 fish, 47.47 daily average), third was Scott Bombard of Missoula (853, 46.27), fourth was David McDaniel of Polson (689, 45.07), fifth was Sam Cusker of Whitefish (503, 33.00), sixth was Larry Karper of Florence (557, 31.53), there was a tie for seventh between Terry Krogstad of Kalispell (523, 28.2667) and Larry Ashwell of Missoula (520, 28.2667), Richard Kreis of Huson was ninth (463, 25.8) and Bob Christensen of Missoula rounded out the top 10 (294, 19.60).
Julie Perkins of Kalispell chose to give up her place in the top 10 (373 fish, 21.12 average) to take the top spot in the women’s category. Laurie Kreis of Huson was second among the ladies with 153 entries, Debby Sacchi of Thompson Falls third with 99, Gina Schiff of Whitefish fourth with 90, and fifth place went to Jeanee Mooney of Missoula with 75.
More than 15,400 lake trout were caught in the Fall 2018 event, compared with 17,527 in 2016 and 14,775 in 2017. The event welcomed 467 anglers with 159 turning in entries.
In the 70 and over category, Larry Karper and Larry Ashwell chose to stay in the top 10, so John Gauci of Florence took first place with 317 entries and Bernard Olson of Lakeside was second with 63.
Matt Guckenberg, Jr. of Kalispell won first in the 13-17 category with 86, second went to Matthew Kreis of Huson with 34, third was Madisyn Lugibihl of Missoula with 5, and fourth was Justin Line of Missoula. The 12 and under category was won by Tripp Bick of Arlee with 8, second went to Alison Putzler of Huson with 5, and third Kieran Incashola of St. Ignatius with 3.
No large fish entry was received during the event. Winning both smallest lake trout categories was Felix Gauci with a 4.5-inch and a 5.5-inch lake trout.
Spirit of the Events Awards went to Dave Hoback of Arlee and Bob Christensen. The Spirit of the Event Award is given to an angler who shows good sportsmanship and supports the events by encouraging or helping others.
Overall Bucket winners were Richard and Laurie Kreis with a total of 26 points and three bucket weights over the three days of 85.8 pounds. Second went to Mike Benson with 14 points and 71.65 pounds, and a tie for third went to Ted Peterson/Paul Gyles of Stevensville and Bob Christensen each with 10 points.
The Early Bird Drawing was won by Arnold Davis of Polson who entered one fish during the competition.
The Heaviest Fish under 30 inches on the last day was won by Carey Hauser of Somers with a 8.5-pound lake trout. Paul Soukup of Polson was second with a 7.57-pound lake trout.
The $10,000, $5,000, $1,000 tagged lake trout and more than 6,000 with values from $500 to $1,000 were not caught. New values and new tagged lake trout will be assigned before the 2018 spring event begins. Catching $100 tagged lake trout the last week were: Mike Benson, John Malatare of Arlee, Bill Swaney of New Town, North Dakota, Jim Flinchbaugh of Kalispell, Tim Mooney and Dylan Burkhart of Missoula, Richard Kreis and Matthew Kreis of Huson, Larry Karper, and Jeff Cox of Rollins.
Spring Mack Days 2019 will begin March 15 and end May 12. Check the website http://www.mackdays.com for more information, stats, and prize winners.
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