Outdoors blog: ALS contest raises $117,000; defending champs win

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efending champs win Kolar Toyota ALS contest

Defending champs win Kolar Toyota ALS contest

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Jason Schrupp and Josh Fankhanel aren't exactly household names in the Island Lake community. Together, they've fished the lake just seven times in their lives.

But they know enough about the lake north of Duluth to have won the 15th annual Kolar Toyota ALS Walleye Tournament there on Saturday.

Schrupp is from Vergas, Minn., and Fankhanel from Moorhead, Minn. They work with the Carrier Corp., which is one of the sponsors of Kent Hrbek Outdoors. Hrbek, the former Twins star, is one of the celebrity hosts of the annual Kolar ALS Walleye Tournament.

Schrupp and Fankhanel learned of the tournament through Hrbek.

They won Saturday's event with six walleyes that weighed a total of 13.67 pounds and became the first team to repeat as winners in the event. Their catch included a 5.92-pound walleye that was the largest caught among 145 two-person teams.

They had fished three previous tournaments and pre-fished it three other days before competing this year. Because of dense fog on Friday, they couldn't pre-fish it this year, said Ray Higgins, tournament spokesman.

The contest raised $117,000 for ALS (Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis) research, Higgins said Monday.

Schrupp and Fankhanel edged out Duluth's father-son team of Wayne and Steve Reynolds, who had six walleyes weighing 11.50 pounds. Third place went to Troy Skorich and Chris Edquist of Superior with 10.58 pounds.

A total of 354 walleyes were caught, and 346 were released alive, Higgins said. The 290 anglers registered a total of 325.73 pounds of walleyes for a 1.1-pound average.