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Flathead Lake Anglers Cash in on Lake Trout Lotto

By Beacon Staff

Who needs a lottery ticket when you can just go fishing? The Schrader family found this out last weekend on Flathead Lake.

Joe Schrader of Kalispell took his daughter fishing Saturday during the Spring Mack Days event, and she caught 10 lake trout, including one worth $100. The following day Schrader took his son out on the boat and the boy caught himself a $100 lake trout. That same day Schrader landed a tagged trout, too.

The big prize, a $10,000 tagged trout, continues to evade anglers, but several catches brought in cash prizes in the third weekend of the spring fishing event on Flathead Lake last weekend.

Scott Mahlen caught two $100 tagged fish at the same time on Saturday – one on a jig and the other on a fly, according to a Mack Days news release.

Joe and Adam Schrader with their tagged lake trout.

Anglers caught 2,882 lake trout last weekend. There were 747 landed on Friday, 1,535 on Saturday and 600 on Sunday, hiking the total catch amount to 9,031.

Mike Benson moved into first place for total fish count with 355. Chuck Forgey is runner-up with 311.

Susan Martin from Polson is in first place for women with 69. Tracy Powers from Missoula is in second place with 53.

Connor Kowalski from Florence leads the 13-17 division with 111.

Columbia Falls’ Tanner Murry is second with 78. In the 12 and under division, Garett Vaughan from Charlo holds first place with 56. Dylan Hodgson of Kalispell follows with 21.

A total of 289 anglers have caught fish in this spring’s event.

Entries are taken until the last day of the event on May 20. Information can be found online or by calling (406) 883-2888 (ext. 7294).

Spring Mack Days Leaderboard
Through Three Weekends
Men
Mike Benson, Lonepine, 355
Chuck Forgey, Arlee, 311
Steven Benson, Four Lakes, Wash., 302
Don Beville, Lakeside, 293
Scott Bombard, Missoula, 275
Danny Smith, Hot Springs, 274
David McDaniel, Polson, 257
Jason Mahlen, Kalispell, 257
Craig Morigeau, Polson, 256
Terry Krogstad, Kalispell, 249

Women
Susan Martin, Polson, 69
Tracy Powers, Missoula, 53
Terry Biere, Butte, 37
Kathryn Cox, Lakeside, 36
Sharon Beville, Lakeside, 18
Michelle Slyder, Billings, 18
Deana Knipe, Polson, 11

Youth 13-17
Connor Kowalski, Florence, 111
Tanner Murry, Columbia Falls, 78
Roger Guillory, Kalispell, 16
Brady Weible, Charlo, 12
Keegan Noyd, Missoula, 11
Wyatt Jensen, Polson, 7
Eric Sams, Polson, 6
Kobe Cox, Charlo, 4
Bailey Weible, Charlo, 3

12 & Under
Garett Vaughan, Charlo, 56
Dylan Hodgson, Kalispell, 21
Autumn Powers, Missoula, 18
Danner Shima, Kalispell, 11
Kailey Schrader, Kalispell, 10
Adam Schrader, Kalispell, 8
Carson McDaniel, Polson, 5
Cole Gilleard, Charlo, 5
Casey Bradshaw, Kalispell, 2
Brianna Stone, Polson, 1