A month after a two-person fishing team at an Ohio contest scandalized the competitive fishing world when organizers said they engorged walleyes with lead balls to increase their weight, a grand jury indicted both men on Wednesday on felony charges of cheating and attempted grand theft.
Jacob Runyan and Chase Cominsky, center left and center right, after they won a previous tournament in April. Credit…Isaac Ritchey/The Blade, via Associated Press
Fishing Contest Rocked by Cheating Charges After Weights Found in Winning Catches
Two competitors stuffed walleye with lead balls in a scheme that was caught after the tournament director and attendees grew suspicious.
By Vimal Patel Oct. 2, 2022
Jason Fischer became suspicious when the five fish he estimated to be about four pounds each — or 20 pounds total — weighed in at nearly 34 pounds. Attendees at a fishing tournament in Cleveland on Friday also had doubts. “No way,” one man said.
Mr. Fischer, the director of the tournament, known as the Lake Erie Walleye Trail, inspected one of the walleye and felt a hard object in its stomach that seemed unnatural. “It’s not like they’re eating rocks,” he said.
He grabbed a knife and sliced open the fish as Jacob Runyan, one member of the two-person team that presented it for weighing, looked on. The next moments rocked the competitive fishing world.
Caught hook, line and sinker! Moment LEAD WEIGHTS are found in professional fishing duo’s catch and they are stripped of tournament title and $5,000 prize – as furious crowd berates them
Chase Cominsky and Jake Runyon were stripped of their winning title after a tournament official discovered lead weights inside the fish they caught The anglers had been competing in the Lake Erie Walleye Trail Championship Suspicions were raised at the weigh-in when their fish weighed almost double their closest competitor In the world of competitive fishing, by adding the weights to the fish, Cominsky and Runyon’s total poundage increased and put them on top of the leaderboard When the weights were discovered, the duo was disqualified from the event The waiting crowd were furious once the officials announced they had cheated Prior to the scandal, Cominsky and Runyon were leading the season standings for the professional fishing team of the year Cominsky and Runyon have been embroiled in controversy in the past At last year’s Fall Brawl fishing tournament, the duo was disqualified following their win after one of them failed a polygraph test
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