As Runyan stood silently and watched, Fischer cut into the rest of the fish, pulling weight after weight and fillet after fillet — apparently used to keep the sinkers from clacking into one another — from their insides. As soon as Fischer pulled that first weight from the first fish, he stood and bellowed at Runyan, then made a motion like an umpire ejecting a mouthy manager. But Runyan simply stood silently in front of him; Cominsky had already left the scene. Markey estimates that Runyan and Cominsky had taken in somewhere around $400,000 in winnings and endorsements coming into this past weekend. Among their victories, Runyan and Cominsky won both of the two most lucrative events of the 2021 fall season, the Fall Brawl and the Walleye Slam.
Fischer thought each of the fish should weigh about 1.8kg, or about 9kg in total. He then spoke directly to Mr. Runyan as if he were an enraged umpire ejecting an unruly player. ” another said, apparently trying to reconcile what he saw with what the scale read. At another event, the Rossford Walleye Roundup in Ohio, several competitors shared their suspicions that the pair’s fish ‘looked old’ and may have been stashed away prior to the start of the event.
Video of the dramatic moment and the furore that followed has been posted on social media. The weights were found after Lake Erie Walleye Trail tournament director Jason Fischer became suspicious of five of the walleye fish entered by a two-man team at the event weigh-in in Cleveland, Ohio on Friday. First prize for the Walleye Slam was a Warrior fishing boat valued at $151,670, which the two apparently sold and split the proceeds.
“I take all crime seriously, including attempted felony theft at a fishing tournament. These individuals will be held accountable,” he said. Since the video was posted, the fishermen accused of cheating have been disqualified from the event and an investigation is currently underway by the Ohio Department of Natural Resources, according to CNN. Fischer, who confronted the two men and shared several photos with Rolling Stone, said in a statement on Facebook that he was disgusted by the affair.
Fishing tournament rocked by weight-stuffing cheating scandal
As for the sport, Fischer expects that it will overcome the shadow of this scandal — with more rules, perhaps, but preserving the sense of Americana that makes it special to him and so many others. Chase Cominsky and Jake Runyan pose with the five fish they thought would win them team of the year in the Lake Erie Walleye Trail tournament series. The problem facing Fischer was that Runyan and Cominsky had been the source of significant “hearsay and gossip” for several months, ever since they started going on a winning streak that defied all angling logic. The duo scored the top catch in last year’s Lake Erie Fall Brawl and attempted to claim the $100,000 prize but were disqualified. He added that for most anglers, ‘that’s what they love to do,’ that they aren’t in it for the money.
A lot of sports that don’t get nearly as much attention as your footballs or your basketballs have been engulfed in controversy lately. There is a gigantic chess scandal in which the No. 1 player in the world, Magnus Carlsen, alleges that he has been on the other side of cheating by Hans Niemann. And earlier this week, poker has seen allegations of cheating pop up, too, during a Hustler Casino Live stream that featured an all-in decision that made little sense. Two fishermen thought they had won the Lake Erie Walleye Trail’s final event of the 2022 season. Get browser notifications for breaking news, live events, and exclusive reporting.
Constance Brownlow is a 38-year-old animal expert and entertainer. She has always been fascinated by animals, and she has spent her entire life learning about them. She knows more than most people about the behavior and habits of various creatures, and she loves educating others about them.
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