Viking Sportsmen get generous donation

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The Viking Sportsmen Club is aggressively trying to make the Alexandria lakes area one of the best walleye fishing destinations in Minnesota with a five-year stocking plan.

Recently, that plan got a big boost with a very generous donation. The Alexandria Hospitality Association gave a $30,000 donation to the Viking Sportsmen, which will go toward match funding for the purchase of walleye fingerlings.

The money will allow the Viking Sportsmen Club to match up to a $2,000 donation that they receive from any of the area lake associations.

“If lake associations can step up to the plate, it can raise a lot of money to go toward the purchase of these walleyes,” Vikings Sportsmen member Charles Bokinskie said.

The donation will help stock lakes within a 10-mile radius of Alexandria, with about 15 lakes in that area.

The local club has also committed to putting at least $20,000 worth of fingerlings into the Alexandria chain of lakes every year for the next five years. The Viking Sportsmen have pledged $5,000 toward this project every year during that span.

It is a project that the area sportsmen are extremely committed to. In 2007, the Vikings Sportsmen Club in cooperation with the Department of Natural Resources Fisheries Department released 4,638 pounds of walleye fingerings into the chain. Lake Carlos received the most walleyes with 1,820 pounds, while L’Homme Dieu was stocked with 1,190 pounds. Lakes Darling, Geneva and Victoria received 858, 530 and 240 pounds, respectively.

Stocking the local lakes is vital for the long-term success of walleyes in Alexandria because of their low success rate of naturally reproducing. Walleyes still spawn every year but it is often unsuccessful because of a number of factors such as smaller panfish eating the eggs and the rocks they spawn in silting over.

The Viking Sportsmen Club needs the continued support of the community to help reach its goal of stocking the chain of lakes with $20,000 worth of fingerlings each year.

Local sportsmen can help out by making a donation or purchasing T-shirts, which are on sale for $10 each at Christopherson’s Bait and Stub’s Marine. All of the proceeds raised from the T-shirt sales go toward stocking the lakes.

The Viking Sportsmen Club is also looking to get more people involved, including younger members who are looking to become the future of the local sportsmen’s club. Those interested in getting involved can visit their Web site at www.vikingsportsmen.org. Meetings are also open to the public and usually are held the third Thursday of each month.

Tags: sports, alexandria, viking, sportsmen, donation