Twitter Screenshots from the walleye lead cheating video.
Lead weights were found in walleye during a Lake Erie walleye tournament cheating scandal in Ohio, a viral video shows.
The video, which you can watch later in this article, has had more than 11 million views on Twitter. Be forewarned that the video contains very graphic language.
“Serious Controversy in Pro fishing tournament as multiple-time winners caught stuffing lead weights and other fish filets in their fish to have the heaviest catch to win hundreds of thousands in prizes,” the Twitter user who shared the video wrote.
The video shows walleye being sliced open to reveal the lead weights, which made the fish heavier than they really were. The controversy caused a lot of anger – and led to disqualifications and a police investigation – because sports fishing at this level comes with some big financial prizes.
Here’s what you need to know:
Men Began Screaming & Using Expletives When the Walleye Were Sliced Open
Serious Controversy in Pro fishing tournament as multiple-time winners caught stuffing lead weights and other fish filets in their fish to have the heaviest catch to win hundreds of thousands in prizes.
The video shows a chaotic scene at the fishing tournament when the lead weights were discovered inside fish.
“We got weights in fish!” a man shouted. “That is theft,” said another.
“This is bullsh**,” a man shouts in the chaotic video. Another man discusses filing a police report. The video shows the walleye sliced open.
“What the f*** man,” another man says. “A filleted fish, look at it… that’s a walleye fillet,” said another man.
“Do you have anything to say Jake?” says a man. “You got anything to say?”
People shout about “all that f****** money.”
“Check every fish,” a man shouts as a fish is sliced open to reveal lead weights.
Two Other Winners Were Named After the Walleye Cheating Scandal
According to CBS News, the Lake Erie Walleye Trail (LEWT) fishing tournament in Ohio initially “crowned Chase Cominsky and Jake Runyan winners after weigh-in.”
But then the controversy broke out. After the lead weights were found, Runyan and Cominsky were no longer declared the winners.
Lake Erie Walleye Trail wrote on Facebook, “Disgusted guys and gals, I’m sorry for letting you down for so long and I’m glad I caught cheating taking place in YOUR LEWT at the same time.”
The page wrote, “I can’t think enough to post results, but congrats Tsczyko and French and TOY Hendricks and Ulmer. Same goes to the yak and open winners. I hope you know now that when I say ‘you built this LEWT and I will defend its integrity at all costs,’ I mean it. You all deserve the best.”
According to the Sharon Herald, the lead weights were found when Jason Fischer, the head of the fishing circuit, weighed a fish caught by the Cleveland, Ohio, team of Cominsky and Runyan.
The news site says the fish “looked like it should have been 4 pounds” but weighed 7.9 pounds.
“I thought, ‘no way,’” said Fischer to the Sharon Herald. That’s when he squeezed the fish and felt the lead weights inside. Some of the fishing contests have prizes worth up to $500,000, according to the newspaper.
The Department of Natural Resources and local police are investigating, Sharon Herald reported.
A lot of anglers are very angry.
“I’m angered about it, I’m sad about it,” Northeast Ohio fisherman Kenny Morris said to WKYC-TV. “I’ve known Chase and I’ve known Jake, and I’m no longer speaking with them. They’re blocked from me.”
The men have won other fishing tournaments in the past with hefty prizes.
According to Ohio Game Fishing, the two men won tournaments in 2021.
“A chilly week of walleye fishing on the rough and tumble waters of Lake Erie was a derby and tournament bonanza for Jake Runyan of Cleveland and his walleye tournament partner Chase Cominsky of Hermitage, Pa.,” that article reported.
“The pair won both the Blaster Walleye Fall Brawl and the Walleye Slam fishing derbies, walking away with last weekend’s Lake Erie Walleye Trail Championship in a dominant performance.”
It was worth a lot of cash – about $306,000.
“I’m still numb,” said Runyan to Ohio Game Fishing. “I can’t believe we won the derbies and the LEWT Championship. There are so many great walleye fishermen around here, and to find the success we did is absolutely amazing. There were a lot of long days and hard fishing involved, but the top locations we found for trophy walleye paid off.”
According to Sharon Herald, this is not the first time that Cominsky and Runyan faced controversy.
In 2021, the pair were “disqualified from the Fall Brawl fishing event, after they had apparently won, because one of them had failed a polygraph test,” the newspaper reported.
That fishing contest posted prizes of half a million dollars. Runyan told the Toledo Blade “that both he and Cominsky had passed a subsequent polygraph test following another tournament,” according to the Herald.
READ NEXT: Jeffrey Dahmer’s Cause of Death.