We would thank all of the participating anglers that made this fall’s Mack Days fishing event a success! It was a record-breaking fall event, with 21,985 lake trout entries turned in during the 9-week long event. Mack Days Fishing Events are sponsored by the Confederated Salish and Kootenai Tribes and are used as an important tool to reduce the non-native lake trout in Flathead lake to help increase native Bull Trout & Westslope Cutthroat trout populations.
A total of $4,400 dollars’ worth of tagged fish were turned in during this fall’s fishing event. Weekend drawing winners were Felix Gauci $200, Jerry Benson $100 and Lyndon Lee $100.
The Overall Smallest Fish competition was won by Terry Krogstad with his fish measuring 142mm. Larry Karper took second place with his small fish measuring at 144mm. Sunday’s last day smallest fish competition was won by Korey Heimdahl. Large fish winners for the weekend were Ryker Bair (9.45 lbs.) and his Dad, Justin Bair (7.74 lbs.)
The 2026 Fall Mack Days Overall Top 20 anglers were; Terry Krogstad with 1,626, Patrick Casey with 966, Clint Speer with 921, Devon Bukowski with 917, Jack Kirkland with 959, Richard Kreis with 881, Larry Karper with 835, Julie Perkins with 813, Mike Benson with 715, Larry Ashwell with 702, Felix Gauci with 692, David Kelch with 610, Joe Minnehan with 545, Mike Colyer with 470, John Gauci with 456, Bob Stewart with 375, Shaunda Albert with 367, Korey Heimdahl with 297, Jerry Benson with 293, and Lyndon Lee with 274.
The Top Lady Angler competition was won by Shaunda Albert, who finished with 367 lake trout entries, Debbie Sacci finished second with 80, and Angie Marrow finished in third place with 62 entries.
The Top Ten Anglers based on an 18-day average were; Terry Krogstad with 75.89, Patrick Casey with 52.67, Clint Speer with 51.17, Jack Kirkland with 49.5, Devon Bukowski with 46.22, Larry Karper with 45.78, Julie Perkins with 44.67, Richard Kreis with 42.67, Felix Gauci with 38.44, Larry Ashwell with 35.44.
Golden Angler Competition was won by Jerry Benson with 293 lake trout entries. Carie Hauser took second with 72 lake trout entries.
Lyncoln Gauci won the youth 12-under competition with 21 lake trout entries, Isaac Zach took second place with 5 lake trout, Carter Lindsey took third with 4 lake trout, and fourth place was Royce Couture with 3 entries. Ethan Zach won the 13-17 age class with 9 lake trout Entries.
Two anglers were awarded the “Spirit of the Event” Award for the 2026 fall event. Shaunda Albert received the award for going above and beyond to help another angler get back out on the lake to participate in the event. Joe Minnehan also received the award for his No Quit attitude!
We would like to thank Everyone involved who makes this event possible.
Check out the website at www.mackdays.com for results. If you have any questions or comments, please contact Joe Santos at joe.santos@cskt.org.
See you All for the 2027 Spring Mack Days Event!
—CSKT—
Montana's outdoor week, in your inbox at 7am Friday.