Fuzzy Bear wins Hoosier Coho Club tune-up.“Fuzzy Bear,” captained by Carl Stopczynsk of North Liberty, claimed the Hoosier Coho Club Pro/Am title in at Michigan City last weekend by a mere 15/100’s of a pound.

The Fuzzy Bear team, a perennial favorite in Michigan City salmon contests, edged another former winner, “Blue Fairways” (captained by Wally Laaksonen of Ludington), 156.55 points to 156.40.

The Club’s Pro-Am is an annual event designed as a practice round for this weekend’s Hoosier Coho Classic, Lake Michigan’s oldest and most prestigious trout/salmon event.

Scoring is based on a 10-points-per-fish, one-point-per-pound scoring system. A maximum of 10 salmon or trout, including no more than three lake trout, could be weighed in the Pro/Am.

“Uncle Bud” (Bud Roche) blew away the competition in the Amateur Division with a whopping 181.80 points, despite weighing in just eight fish. Anchoring the impressive catch was a 19.45-pound chinook which took big fish honors among amateurs. Big fish in the Pro Division was a 17.35-pound brown trout pulled aboard Jeff Eck's “The Rodfather.”