An Ohio fishing tournament went into chaos as the two-man winning team, set to win $29,000, was caught cheating!
A heavier-than-normal catch led to an inspection by officials at the Lake Erie Walleye Trail. Officials and the crowd were shocked to find that weights and loose fish fillets had been stuffed inside the fish.
The crowd was having a good time celebrating all the catches being weighed until Jacob Runyan and his partner Chase Cominsky had their fish weighed. A silence fell over the crowd when their fish far exceeded the weights of all the others brought in that day. The best single fish up to that point was 7.23 pounds. Their total catch came to a whopping 33 pounds- well over what the rest of the fishermen caught that day. One person recording the entirety of the awards ceremony captured the drama unfolding when Runyan and Cominsky were announced as the winners.
“Ain’t no way” one fisherman says in relation to their weigh-in. Another stunned fisherman says,“Damn… 33?”. The tension and visible doubt in the crowd rise and more comments are heard about how the weight looked off based on the size of the fish.
Right before everything erupted into chaos, someone recorded on tape can be heard yelling, “F*** that. That ain’t a seven-pound fish,” he says, “check the stomach on that one.” Tournament director Jason Fischer apparently agreed as he calls for a knife and begins to inspect their catch. He’s stunned at what he finds.
“WE GOT WEIGHTS IN FISH!” He yells, with the crowd quickly going into a rage as Runyan stands emotionless as weights are pulled from his fish.
The crowd begins yelling angrily at the men, rightly furious as to what just took place. The award money from the tournament comes directly from entry fees. This means that not only were the cheaters undeserving of the prize money, but they were trying to steal from their fellow competitors.
“All these years … all these years you were losers,” one fisherman said, referring to prior events Runyan and Cominsky had won.
Not only is it remarkable that they cheated, but how dumb and dumber went beyond believability which in turn is what got them caught. Jacob Runyan and his partner Chase Cominsky didn’t just cheat by a little, they stuffed the poor fish over a third of the normal weights that were coming in.
It seems that the duo stuffed the fish with five 12-ounce weights and another five in the 8-oz range. The weights alone would have increased the duo’s total catch by approximately 6.25 pounds. However, they also added loose fish filets that likely added another 2 pounds or so. Without the added weight, Runyan and Cominsky’s catch would have been around 5.4 pounds each rather than the unbelievable amount of 6.6 pounds. This would have placed them in third place if they had competed honestly.
An investigation into the two men has been launched. A report is being prepared for the Cuyahoga County Prosecutor’s office, as reported by a spokesperson for the Ohio Department of Natural Resources told CNN. Some may feel that level of punishment is harsh. However, Runyan and Cominsky have won over $300,000 in fishing competitions in just the Ohio area. The defrauding of the competitors and the events could lead to stiff penalties and charges being pressed against the men.
In a new update, it has been learned that the cheating pair has earned almost $3 million in earnings last few years of Walleye tournament fishing. Investigators are also working to determine where the walleye fillets stuffed into the fish came from. If those fillets were illegally harvested, the anglers could be in big trouble.
In the video below, at 14 minutes and 30 seconds, you can see the incriminating evidence for yourselves.
@walleyemafia1 Walleye tournament cheaters finally get caught.#EndlessJourney #walleyefishing #fishing #fishtok ♬ original sound – Capt. Troy Krause
@walleyemafia1 Cheaters don’t win and winners don’t cheat.#walleyefishing #fishing #EndlessJourney #fishingtiktoks #fish ♬ original sound – Capt. Troy Krause
Here is a further update on the two men who cheated…
