Benson leads Mack Days with two weeks left

There are just two weeks left in the 2022 Fall Mack Days, and 12,654 lake trout have been turned in for this year’s event. Blustery fall weather came in and the breezy winds were off and on most of the weekend. These resilient anglers continue to add to their totals as the days go by, helping make the events successful and helping to try and restore native fish populations in Flathead Lake.

The Confederated Salish and Kootenai Tribes awards up to $200,000 in prizes during the event, which ends November 13. Several anglers caught tagged fish worth $100 last weekend, including Shawn Madsen of Whitefish, Tony Incashola, Jr., of St. Ignatius, Larry Ashwell of Missoula and Mike Benson of Lonepine.

Benson took over the lead in the event with a total of 958 lake trout entries and an 18-day average of 49.94, Ashwell is second (859 entries, 44.44 daily average), third is Felix Gauci of Stevensville (711, no average), fourth is Terry Krogstad of Kalispell (611, 30.89), in fifth is Jerry Benson of Plains (576, 32.0), sixth is Scott Bombard of Missoula (528, 29.33), Larry Karper of Florence is seventh (510, 28.33), in eighth place is Julie Perkins of Kalispell (445, 24.72), ninth is Richard Kreis of Huson (415, 22.06) and David McDaniel of Polson is 10th (361, no average).

Perkins and Kris lead the woman anglers, followed by Kim Mack of Helena (129), Janet Myer of Riverton, Wyoming (93) and Debby Sacchi of Thompson Falls (35). In the 12 and under category, William Grob of Missoula leads with 20 lake trout entries, second is Kysen Incashola of St. Ignatius (7), Baylie Peterson of Columbia Falls is third (2) and in fourth is Terrace Dieterich of Kalispell (1). Marcus Lucas of Polson and Shelbie Peterson of Columbia Falls are tied for first in the 13-17 category.

For more information, go to http://www.mackdays.com or call (406) 270-3386.