I cannot begin to stress how big of a deal this is to literally everyone involved in this tournament as well as all other tournaments these two fishermen have ever participated in.
These dudes straight up stuffed their fish with lead weights and fillets, and they really thought they could walk away with the winnings.
Cheating has no place in the outdoors.
None.
It's just not what outdoorsmen do.
So when Jacob Runyan and his teammate Chase Cominski were caught red handed with their lead-stuffed winning catch at the Lake Erie Walleye Trail Tournament in Ohio last month, it's no wonder Tournament Director Jason Fischer urged them to leave the scene immediately for their own safety.
It's also no wonder I have to give you a strong language warning for this video:
Yeah dude, sorry about the language there, but you can see why these other anglers would be so incredibly upset.
(If you're wondering about the fillets, they're in there to sort of pad, or hide, the lead.)
Two anglers accused of stuffing fish with lead weights and fillets in an attempt to win thousands of dollars in an Ohio fishing tournament were indicted Wednesday on charges of attempted grand theft and other counts.
Jacob Runyan, 42, of Broadview Heights, Ohio, and Chase Cominski, 35, of Hermitage, Pennsylvania, were indicted in Cleveland on felony charges of cheating, attempted grand theft, possessing criminal tools and misdemeanor charges of unlawfully owning wild animals. They're due to be arraigned Oct. 26…
Good.
And good on Jason Fischer for finding the weight of these walleye suspicious in the first place.
According to search warrant affidavits, the five walleye contained a total of eight 12-ounce (.34 kilogram) lead weights and two 8-ounce (.23 kilogram) weights, as well as the fish fillets.
I hope these cheaters get the time they deserve!
Dudes were about to take home a bunch of cash.
Runyan and Cominski would have received $28,760 in prizes for winning the tournament.
No chump change there, so I'm glad the money went home with the lawful winners.
Rumor has it that Runyan and Cominski have been at this cheating thing for years, and they've talked a lot of trash along the way according to that video up there.
According to Heavy.com:
Cominsky and Runyan were disqualified from The Fall Brawl fishing tournament in 2021 after one of the anglers failed a polygraph test, The Toledo Blade reported. That disqualification cost them a $100,000 prize. The newspaper reported that both men passed polygraph exams after later events. A Facebook post shows they won a cash prize and a boat at the Walleye Slam in 2021...
According to Cleveland.com, he and Runyan have won more than $306,000 during their run of victories in Ohio area fishing tournaments.
We can all share in being very satisfied that these two sleaze bags got caught and that these tournaments can get back on track with some integrity.
Again, I hope these cheaters get what they deserve.
Because sportsmen don't cheat.
