Lac La Biche Lions Club plans to help community with money raised from Walleye Cup

Last weekend 73 boats and 146 people took to the waters on Lac La Biche lake to take part in the first catch, photograph, and release derby.

The Lions Club says they will use the profit from the tournament to support the local community.

A total of $65,510 in prize money was awarded to the winners.

The Lac La Biche Walleye Cup was a Catch-Record-Release activity on the water for the days of the event. The “weigh-in” was conducted through a photo and scorecard process. Partners worked together to measure, photograph, and record their catch using the official ruler and sd card provided.

Chris Suhan and Ryan Johnson took home first place with a combined weight out of 72.80. Second Place was awarded to Ron Fibke and Mark Filewich with a combined weight of 72.60 Third place winners were Jeff Filewich and Ryan Filewich with a combined weight of 72.40. Les Lambert and Cody Lambert were awarded the top youth team while the top mixed team prize was netted by Douglas Nicholson and Cyndy Nicholson.

Mel Kuprowsky is the Secretary for the Lions Club in Lac La Biche.

“We took in a total of $68,190 from the Walleye Cup,” Kuprowsky told Lakeland Connect. ” Everything we make goes back into the community. The two main things we have focused on are people with sight impairments, and the other area of focus is helping people with autism.”

Raising money during the COVID-19 pandemic has been a real challenge for the Lions Club in Lac La Biche.

“Now that we finally have some money because we couldn’t raise money during COVID-19 we’ll start looking for someone in need and the community regularly comes forward to identify individuals that have needs,” Kuprowsky concluded.

Arthur@lakelandconnect.thedev.ca