Kalispell's Turner takes Spring Mack Days' title
Kolton Turner, the winner of 2021 Spring Mack Days, turns in his lake trout while his father, Bob Turner watches. Kolton caught 1,856 macks and he had an 18-day average of 87.67. Bob brought 1,447 fish in while averaging 70.67 and finished third. (Confederated Salish and Kootenai Tribe photo)
After nine weeks of lake trout fishing on Flathead Lake, Kolton Turner, a Kalispell resident, boated a total of 1,856 lake trout. Turner also boasted an 18-day average of 87.67 while claiming the 2021 championship.
Jason Mahlen, also of Kalispell, brought home 1,701 fish and had an average of 83.11 to finish in second place. Mahlen had won three straight and has won seven Mack Days events.
The nine-week event concluded with a total of 27,547 lake trout entries. A total of 800 anglers entered with 298 anglers who turned in one or more lake trout entries and qualified for the prize drawings.
Annual Mack Days Fishing Events are sponsored by the Confederated Salish and Kootenai Tribes. There was up to $225,000 in cash and prizes available.
The lake trout became very tight lipped by the end of the last weekend. The total for the last weekend was 1,597 with Friday’s count at 732, Saturday count at 563, and Sunday’s count at 302 lake trout entries.
Anglers reported seeing fish on their fish finders but they weren’t looking to bite just any lure!
Here's the rest of the Top 20. Anglers are listed by name, hometown, total fish caught and average.
Placing third was Bob Turner-Kalispell-1,447-70.67, in fourth was Sam Cusker of Bigfork-780-42.67, fifth was Mike Benson of Lonepine-902-41.83, sixth was Steve Benson-Spokane Valley-848-41.22, seventh was Larry Karper-Florence-767-39.5, eighth was Ken Varga-Kalispell-753-38.3, ninth was Travis Banyai-Kalispell-710-37.06, and 10th was Scott Bombard-Missoula-730-35.72.
The 11th to 20th places go to Tyler Varga-Kalispell with 723, Jack Kirkland of Missoula-557-29.39 and Matt Guckenberg Sr. Kalispell-564-29.39.
Placing 14th was Felix Gauci of Stevensville-528, 15th Sou Thao of Florence 437, 16th Hank McLeod-Kalispell-434, 17th Jerry Benson-Plains-438, 18th Terry Krogstad-Kalispell-427, 19th Larry Ashwell-Missoula-416, and 20th Clint Speer-Kalispell-411.
Julie Perkins of Kalispell won the Ladies Category with 302 lake trout, Connie Jones of Kalispell was second with 74, Nicole Peters of Missoula came in third with 51, Lisa Cloo of Clinton was fourth with 39, and Laurie Kreis of Huson was fifth with 36.
Jack Kirkland wins the 70-and-over category with 557 lake trout entries and Larry Ashwell of Missoula was second with 416.
Winning the two drawings in the category were Jack Kirkland and Marty Herak.
Matt Guckenberg Jr. of Kalispell was first in the 13-17 age category with 269 lake trout, Josey McIlhargey Jr. of Kalispell was second with 36, Abby Hodgson of Kalispell was third with 26, Colton Spacht of Culbertson was fourth with 13 and Bryce Harvey of Kalispell was fifth with 10 entries.
Brodie Smith of Kalispell won the 12-and-under with 211 entries, Wyatt Best of Florence was second with seven, Tripp Bick of Arlee, Henry Phan from Kalispell and Bridgett Reed of Kalispell tied with five entries each for third.
Tyler Varga won the Siberian cooler.
Weekend nine winners were: Richard Truzzolino-Lakeside, Sou Thao, Jason Piccoli-Kalispell, Sam Cusker, and Dewey Kruse of Polson.
The Spirit of the Event Award goes to Jason and Scott Mahlen. The Mahlen family lost Scott during the event due to illness. His pole was in the boat with Jason the next day.
There were 100 fish and a $200 tagged fish brought in at the end of that day of fishing.
Fall Mack Days on Flathead Lake will be Sept. 17 to Nov. 14.
For more information please visit www.mackdays.com.