The pair are alleged to have stuffed lead weights and fish fillets into their winning catches in order to claim the prize money of around $60,000. In total, they've claimed over $306,000 in winnings in the past week, winning the Fall Brawl and Walleye Slam derbies and the Lake Erie Walleye Trail Championship, all on Lake Erie. Now questions are being raised that should land the pair in jail.
In recent weeks, we've also seen major scandals in competitive chess and poker.
Source: Fox Sports
A cheating scandal has rocked the competitive fishing world, as two fishermen were alleged to have illegally stuffed their fish with weights and extra fillets.
Chase Cominsky of Hermitage, Pennsylvania and Jake Runyon of Cleveland, Ohio thought they had claimed victory at Lake Erie Walleye Trail’s (LEWT) final event of the 2022 season.
Until they didn’t.
LEWT tournament director Jason Fischer, who moonlights as a police officer in the suburbs of Cleveland, brought the duo’s fraudulent act into the spotlight at the weigh-ins after the event.
Fischer sliced open one of the fish that Runyon and Cominsky had caught, only to find an object that sparked outrage: a lead weight.
Upon discovering the first lead weight, Fischer wound up his arm and yelled, “You’re out of here” in scenes reminiscent of an overzealous baseball umpire.
The other fishermen were not happy. "'One described it as “f***ing theft”, while another yelled at Runyon that he “should be in jail.'”
A typical reaction from the sport fishing community.
