Lake Erie Walleye Fishing Competition Scandal!

Years ago, I met a guy who was very active in the world of professional fishing, not because he was passionate for the sports, but because he was a business man and had market research that listed fishing as the biggest or one of the biggest sports in the world. At the time, I thought he as crazy and didn't really understand that fishing was a legitimate sport, but it is and with all sport, comes scandal!

This past weekend the internet got mad when angry anglers from Cleveland started posting the tournament director at the Lake Erie Walleye Tour slicing open the winning fish of fishermen Jake Runyan and Chase Cominsky, only to find weights had been stuffed into the fish to get them the win! There were over 8 pounds of lead other pieces of fish and a pair of pliers that gave the team the weight they needed for the presigious title!

Apparently, this can land the cheating team some legal battles and possibly jail, which seems insane, but don't mess with fishing!

Fisher had this to say after the incident:

“I’m fairly accurate with my weights … I see a lot of fish go across the scales … I’m usually within a pound or so. So I’m watching them put their fish in the basket and I’m thinking there’s a 4 pounder and I’m thinking okay this is a 20-plus pound bag. You know you have a 4 pound average. You got 5 fish. That’s 20 pounds. You know if it’s a 4.2 or a 4.3 you’re going to go over 20 pounds. So I’m expecting that. And the scale jumps to like 33.9 almost a 34 pound bag. And to me that’s better than 6- or 6 1/4-pound average. You’re almost looking at a 7-pound average to get to 35 pounds. I’m just like there’s just no way. There’s zero chance that those fish weighed that.”

There is a video of the incident that has been viewed 650,000 times, because scandal and controversy gets people interested!