Inside The Scandal In The Professional Fishing World

A local fishing tournament that turned into a national scandal has now landed two men in hot water with authorities.

Jacob Runyan, 42, and Chase Cominsky, 35, were indicted in Cleveland, Ohio, after the two were accused of stuffing fish with lead weights in a competition, according to ESPN.

The duo face felony charges of cheating and attempted grand theft. They also face misdemeanor charges of possessing criminal tools and unlawful ownership of wild animals, as reported by the Daily Star.

The cheating allegations came to light on Sept. 30, 2022 during the Lake Erie Walleye Trail tournament. To win the contest, fishermen had to bring in the heaviest catch of five fish, NPR explained.

Bad weather caused many of the anglers to not catch any fish but Runyan and Cominsky’s biggest catch came in at 7.9 pounds, which made Jason Fischer, the director of the competition, suspicious.

The two were announced the winners and Fischer asked them to stick around for pictures. Fischer then squeezed the fish, “and I immediately felt things in the belly of this fish, hard objects,” he told NPR.

Fischer cut the fish with a knife to discover lead weights and portions of fish fillets. The weights, alone, total to 7.58 pounds, a photo posted on the tournament’s Facebook page revealed.

“I got a little animated and just basically raw emotion came out,” Fischer said. “At that moment, it turned from a fishing tournament to a mob scene.”

According to ESPN, an Ohio Department of Natural Resources officer confiscated the fish as evidence.

This isn’t the first time the duo has been accused of cheating. ESPN also reported they were investigated by police in Rossford, Ohio for cheating in a different walleye tournament. ESPN said a Wood County prosecutor found that although the men might have cheated there wasn’t sufficient evidence to charge them.

The two are due to be arraigned on Oct. 26.