Stephen Naethe, a 17-year-old fishing prodigy from Pablo, is once again leading the Mack Days tournament with the most lake trout caught. Naethe won both the spring and fall Mack Days tournaments last year and has 426 fish through three weeks this spring. In second place is Steve Benson of Columbia Falls with 303, a difference of 123 fish. The tournament is held on Flathead Lake with eight more weeks remaining.
Naethe harvested 823 fish in the fall tournament, compared to 616 for the second-place angler. Last spring, he caught 714 compared to 556 for the second-place angler. The next closest youth anglers caught 111 in the fall and 75 in the spring. Click here for a story I wrote about Naethe last March.
Over the weekend, Naethe also caught the biggest lake trout of the tournament, a behemoth measuring 41 3/4 inches and 30.4 pounds. It was slightly smaller than the tournament record, caught last year by Captain Bob Orsua of Mo Fisch Charters. Orsua’s fish measured 43 inches and weighed 31.1 pounds.