By: LUCAS ADAMS
Staff Writer
Two fishermen at the Lake Erie Walleye Trail tournament were discovered cheating. The two fishermen, Jacob Runyan and Chase Cominsky, tried to cheat by stuffing their fish with lead balls to make them weigh more. The director of the tournament Jason Fischer was suspicious of the weight of the fish considering that the fish weighed 7 pounds but the fish only looked to be 4 pounds. Fischer then inspected the fish and found the lead balls hidden in the fish after gutting them. The whole scandal left questions about Runyan and Cominsky’s previous wins in other tournaments. How long have they been doing this? Is this the only time?
The Lead balls pulled from the fish
The fact that the prize money of fishing tournaments is increasing is leading people to try and get creative with their cheating. Many of you probably have thought that people get their friends to get them pre-caught fish or add ice to the fish to make it heavier but leave no evidence. The method of cheating used by the two fishermen was very “sloppy”, says Ross Robertson, a Professional Angler.
For Fischer, this incident was an embarrassment and a disappointment considering he hosts 8 tournaments a year. Later he apologized for the scandal in a Facebook Post and Runyan and Cominsky have not said anything about the incident.
Runyan and Cominsky with their fish that they had stuffed with lead balls