Two fishermen cheated in a tournament, got in over their heads, are now up a creek without a paddle
The pair were caught having stuffed lead weights and fish filets into their tournament catches
Within weeks of learning that the chess world has been thrown into turmoil over anal bead-related cheating allegations, we are now faced with another massive tournament scandal. And this time, it’s erupted from the stinking, steaming guts of the competitive walleye fishing community.
The above video was shot at the fateful moment that a Lake Erie Walleye Trail (or LEWT) tournament judge and a mob of extremely pissed-off competitors caught the pair of cheaters. Spectrum News, a local Ohio publication, explains that a two-man team, Cleveland’s Jacob Runyan and Hermitage, Pennsylvania’s Chase Cominsky, were caught on Friday while “leading the series coming into the final event.”
You can tell just how serious all of this is when, in the video, electric text appears over phone footage of the confrontation and proclaims that we’re about to view the “Biggest Fish Cheating Scandal Ever!”
“We got weights in fish!” a man yells as the picture comes into focus. “There we go!”
The crowd roars. “Call the cops!” someone shouts. “You need to go to jail!” another adds.
The judge stands with Runyan, who bends over his and Cominsky’s walleye catch and starts gutting the fish. He pulls out lead balls. A bystander, in poetry inspired by some aquatic muse, taunts the disgraced, would-be champion with, “Where’s your crown now?” More lead balls are retrieved as the fish are cut into. Then, in a terrible indignity not unlike finding that a prize steer has been stuffed with hamburgers, the judge pulls out walleye filets from inside one of the fish.
Faced with the evidence of his crime, Runyan stands expressionless, looking down at his tainted catch while everyone around him yells out insults and calls into question the money he’s won in past tournaments.
In a Facebook post from Saturday, the rightful winners were announced and tournament director Jason Fischer (good surname) solemnly writes that “All LEWT anglers deserve better.” He’s also promised to “make an official statement to all my LEWT anglers addressing this matter” later tonight. Hopefully, that statement will mark an end to this dark chapter in walleye fishing, and the pages of history that those horrible cheats defaced with their crimes can be ripped out and used to wrap up an order of deep-fried walleye and greasy french fries.
[via Boing Boing]
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