Naethe leads Mack Days through 5 weekends of fishing
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The record-breaking number of anglers entered in the 2010 Spring Mack Days had to endure rain, snow, sleet and wind last weekend.
The 1,037 anglers have turned in 13,577 trout through five weekend. The second-highest total through five weekends.
Pablo teenager Stephen Naethe leads all anglers with 651 lake trout. Naethe's 30.4-pound catch also leads the large fish category. Naethe recovered from a 21-fish day Friday, by catching his 50 fish limit Saturday and Sunday.
Everyone struggled on Friday because of the windy conditions and only 170 fish were turned in. Winds also hampered fishing Sunday and only 451 mackinaw were turned in. Saturday was the best day of the weekend, with 1,114 fish.
Only two $100 tagged fish were turned in, bringing the total of caught tagged fish to 37. The two $5,000 tagged fish are not part of the 37.
Mack Days is sponsored by the Confederated Salish and Kootenai Tribes and sanctioned by Montana Fish, Wildlife, and Parks as part of the Flathead Lake Co-Management Plan to balance the fishery of Flathead Lake by slowly reducing non-native lake trout and increasing numbers of native bull trout and westslope cutthroat trout. Anglers are competing for $100,000 in cash and prizes to be given away at the conclusion of the event.
As their totals go up anglers receive more in bonus amounts at the end of the event but all it takes is one ticket in the drawing to win one of the cash prizes that will be drawn for. The cash prizes begin at $1,000 and go to $200. There are several ways to win – smallest fish, largest fish, most fish. The event ends May 23 with a fish fry and the awards.
Check out www.mackdays. com for more information on entries, totals, and anglers standings in the event.
