Last week on Lake Erie, during a lucrative fishing tournament, Multiple fishers were accused of using fish fillets and weights to win on top. In Cleveland, the county prosecutor’s office has opened an investigation into an apparent cheating scandal during a fishing tournament.
In a video posted on Twitter, the tournament director for the Lake Erie Walleye Trail, Jason Fischer, has seen cutting open the winning catch of five walleye and finding lead weights and prepared fish filets inside them.
Jacob Runyan and Chase Cominsky, winning fishers, were immediately disqualified. The video posted on Twitter shows Jason urging Runyan to leave the area for his safety as people hurled expletives at him.
Cominsky and Runyan had won three previous tournaments this year at the Lake Erie Walleye Trail. Jason said both men had passed polygraph tests, a common practice in some fishing events, after winning the earlier tournaments.
Jason told WOIO-TV that he cut the fish open because they seemed heavier than usual walleye of that length.
Ross Robertson, a professional angler and fishing writer, told the NY Times that increased prizes had caused a surge in cheating. Ross said that It would be like saying a 5ft-tall person weighs 500lbs, but you look at him, and he looks like an athlete, and these fish were so bulging.
On Monday, the Ohio Department of Natural Resources spokesperson said that the agency’s officers gathered evidence from the fishing tournament and were preparing a report for the Cuyahoga County Prosecutor’s Office.
The Cuyahoga County prosecutor, Michael O’Malley, said his staff would be meeting with the agency’s officers on Tuesday. Michael said I take all crimes seriously, including attempted felony theft at a fishing tournament, and these individuals will be held accountable.
