An Ohio fishing competition was host to a huge cheating scandal that has rocked the sport, as the supposed winners were found guilty of cheating by placing weights and fish fillets in their caught fish.
The Lake Erie Walleye Trail tournament took place last week with a massive cash prize of $28,760, made up of entry fees from each participant.
Jason Fischer, the director of the tournament, spoke to CNN and revealed that he was instantly suspicious when one of the teams weighed in at almost double what was expected. “I physically felt the fish, I could feel hard objects inside the fish,” Fischer explained.
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The moments where Fischer examined the fish were caught on camera and have gone viral on social media platforms. It shows Fischer, surrounded by other competitors, cutting open the fish with a knife before he jolts up and yells: "We got weights in fish," upon finding the weights and fillets.
One member of the two-man team responsible for this scandal was Jacob Runyan, who can be found standing in front of Fischer in the video, silent and motionless. The video can be found here. Strong language is used.
The findings outraged the competitors, bringing on a sea of profanity and aggression, with several of them moving towards Ranyan while shouting at him. One of the shouts could be heard on video: "You just lost everything!" Runyan and his teammate Chase Cominsky were set to win the $28,760 prize before being found out by Fischer.
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Fischer hosts eight of these tournaments a year, as anglers from several states in the USA travel to compete. The aim is to see who can amass the highest weight for a total of five walleyes caught in Lake Erie. He stated that he was 'absolutely disgusted' when he discovered the alleged cheating.
Runyan and Cominsky were both known by Fischer from other tournaments and he noted that they had won several tournaments previously. This could suggest that this might not be their first time pulling this tactic at a fishing competition.
Fischer said that tournament officials are in touch with local authorities.
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Joshua Nair