Turner maintains narrow lead over Mahlen in Mack Days

Kolton Turner maintained his Mack Days lead over Jason Mahlen after five weeks of fishing on Flathead Lake.

Turner has boated 1,095 fish while Mahlen remains on his heels with 1,050. The top 10 anglers will be ranked based on their best 18-day average.

Bob Turner is third with 914, Sam Cusker is fourth with 563 and Steve Benson is fifth with 544. Mike Benson is sixth with 509, Ken Varga is seventh with 499 and Tyler Varga is eighth with 468. Travis Banyai has 454 and Scott Bombard has 413 fish to complete the top 10.

The second Bucket Day was Saturday and the winner of heaviest bucket of four lake trout under 30 inches was Terry Krogstad and Julie Perkins, of Kalispell, with a total weight of 30.3 pounds.

Several tagged lake trout were caught, including one by Ronan’s Bill Blixt, who caught one while fishing on the shoreline.

Banyai caught a $200 fish while Gene Corne, Steve Benson, Tyler Varga, Tristan Persico, Cusker and Mahlen each caught $100 fish.

Julie Perkins leads the ladies anglers with 205 while Connie Jones of Kalispell is second with 52.

Matt Guckenberg Jr. of Kalispell has 221 lakers and is in first place by a large margin in the 13-to-17-year-old category. Brodie Smith of Kalispell is first in the 12-and-under group with 175.

Before Sunday’s raging winds slowed afternoon, anglers turned in 1,251 lakers on Friday and 1,135 Saturday. Sunday’s catch was 673.

Winners of the $100 drawings for the fifth weekend were Tom Borr, Jerry Benson, Kolton Turner, Jack Kirkland and Ken Varga. Smallest lake trout leaders are now Jack Kirkland at 175mm and Bob Turner at 177mm. The largest lake trout entry so far is still Riley Anderson’s 21.25-pound, 40-inch laker.

For more information go to www.mackdays.com.