Spring Mack Days reaches halfway point
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FLATHEAD LAKE — The 2015 Spring Mack Days fishing event continues with anglers having turned in a total of 18,340 lake trout entries through the fifth of nine weeks. This spring’s event has reached the halfway mark and looks to be one of the more ones.
The fifth weekend of the event has been the largest with 4,113 lake trout entered.
Ryan Shima of Kalispell is leading the anglers with a total of 782 lake trout entries. Ryan hit his second perfect 100 fish limit day on Friday. He is only the second angler in the history of the event to get two 100-fish days. The other angler to do so was Wes Shockley of Plains in the fall of 2011.
Anglers all agree that everything has to go smoothly all day long to reach a 100 fish limit, the kind of day with no breakdowns, line tangles, fish hooks in fingers or rods overboard.
Many of these hard core fishermen and women have set goals of fish per hour, per day, and a fish total they want to reach at the end of the event.
Most anglers are fishing in depths from 180-240 feet. It takes a lot of hard work, determination, luck, skill, and good equipment to catch and land that many fish a day.
Ryan’s son Danner turned in a total of 73 on Friday and Mike Shima — Ryan’s father and Danner’s grandfather — had 56 in his cooler. They caught a total of 229 lake trout. Anglers who watch at a distance from other boats are amazed at the skills they see from these three anglers as they fish and catch lake trout.
Nice weather greatly helped the anglers and was a welcome relief from the cold and wind. There were a few sunburned faces but all in all it was a good fishing weekend.
Up to $225,000 in cash and prizes is being awarded in the the spring event, including one $10,000, three $5,000, and five $1,000 along with more than 5,000 additional tagged lake trout with values from $100-$500.
There have been 74 tagged lake trout turned in so far in the event with values from $100-$500.
The event continues until May 17 when it ends with a fish fry and awards ceremony at the Blue Bay Campground area.
Mack Days, sponsored by the Confederated Salish and Kootenai Tribes and are sanctioned by Montana Fish, Wildlife, and Parks, are used as a management tool by the CSKT to reduce non-native lake trout in Flathead Lake and to increase the once highly abundant native bull trout and westslope cutthroat trout in the lake.
We remind everyone to think safety first and keep aware of weather predictions and changes throughout the day. Wear your PFD’s and have safety equipment aboard.
Entry continues to be taken until the last day of the event. Go to www.mackdays.com to check out the prizes, entry form, rules, etc. or call 406-883-2888 ex. 7294. Tight lines and good luck everyone.
Results
Others in the top ten: Jason Mahlen of Kalispell-2nd- 757, Danner Shima-3rd-670, Steven Benson-Four Lakes, WA-4th -542, Scott Bombard-Missoula-5th-487, Mike Shima-Polson-6th-446, Felix Gauci-Stevensville-7th-442, Larry Karper-Florence-8th-421, Terry Krogstad-Kalispell-9th-407, and Mike Benson-Lonepine-10th-394.
Over 70-Larry Karper-1st, Jim Hoover-Whitefish-2nd-140, Ralph Johnson-Columbia Falls-3rd-95, Jim Miller-Missoula-47-4th, Thomas Shonholtzer-5th-Helena.
13-17 Category-Danner Shima-670, 2nd Kobe Cox-Charlo-151, 3rd-Jade Smith-Charlo-83, 4th-Garett Vaughan-Charlo-65, and 5th-Christopher Shae-Kalispell-58.
12 and Under-Matt Guckenberg Jr.-Kalispell-96, Abby Hodgson-Kalisell-77, Tripp Bick-Arlee-3rd-21, Karson Cox-Charlo-4th-11, and Kieran Incashola-St. Ignatius-9.
Ladies-. Julie Vacca of Florence and Debbie Pike of Polson each has 125 entries. Third is Nicole Peters of Missoula with 87, 4th-Abby Hodgson-77, and 5th –Leann Guillory of Kalispell-67.
