Anglers head into final Mack Days weekend

Mike Benson of Lonepine is maintaining his lead with one weekend left in the 2020 Fall Mack Days fishing event sponsored by the Confederated Salish and Kootenai Tribes (CSKT).

A total of 14,055 lake trout have been entered into the competition so far. Winter weather blew in last weekend with raging winds, cold temperatures and snow on Flathead Lake, CSKT reported. Anglers dealt with frozen reels, lines and fingers, making it difficult to catch the lake trout.

Benson leads the anglers with 988 entries and an 18-day average of 49.06 over 26 days of lake trout fishing. In second place is Sam Cusker of Bigfork (706 entries), third is Larry Ashwell of Missoula with 642, fourth is Scott Bombard of Missoula (564), fifth is Terry Krogstad with 560, in sixth is John Gauci of Florence with 517, seventh is Julie Perkins of Kalispell with 497, Steve Benson of Spokane Valley, Washington, is eighth with 427, Larry Karper of Florence is ninth with 411 and rounding out the top 10 is Richard Kreis of Huson with 372.

Perkins leads the ladies category with 487, second is Laurie Kreis with 280, third Gina Schiff of Kalispell with 80, fourth is Kim Mack of Helena with 66 and fifth Kim McMillie of Polson with 52.

Ashwell leads the 70 and older group with 642, second is John Gauci of Florence with 517, Larry Karper is third with 411, Jack Kirkland of Missoula is fourth with 291 and in fifth place is Marty Herak of Polson with 119.

Rich Ferris of Thompson Falls, Julie Perkins, Terry Krogstad and Benson (two entries) turned in $100 tagged lake trout and John Gauci had a $200 tagged fish.

Among youth anglers, Tripp Bick of Arlee leads the 12 and under category with 13, Kaden Blowers of Missoula is second with six, Gage Spring of Alberton is in third with four, Brodie Smith of Kalispell and Zander Oliver of Missoula each have one. Jeff Devlin of Polson leads the 13-17 group with 14, second is Makenna Garrett of Missoula with eight, third is Kadin Kammerer of Missoula with seven and fourth is Wyatt Thompson of Bigfork with two.

Entries will be taken through Sunday, November 15. For more information, go to http://www.mackdays.com.