Chase Cominsky and Jake Runyan are in deep trouble. On September 30, 2022, the two man fishing team competed in the Lake Erie Walleye Trail tournament. They won the tournament and almost walked away with a little under $30,000 when Jason Fischer, director of the tournament, cut open the stomach of one of the fish and shouted, “We got weights in fish!” 

It turns out that Runyan and Cominsky had stuffed lead weights and walleye fillets inside the walleyes they caught in order to make them weigh in heavier. The rules of  the tournament had the contestants catch five walleye fish and at the end, the person with the heaviest fish won. The rules of the tournament meant Runyan and Cominsky, without a doubt, cheated in order to win the prize money. The duo won over $300,000 in rewards in 2021 by winning various fishing competitions. 

The other contestants and spectators formed a furious mob, and Runyan and Cominsky had to be escorted off the premises by police. They recently have been indicted by a grand jury on cheating, possessing criminal tools, and attempted grand theft. Runyan and Cominsky could receive up to a year in prison and over $2,000 in fines. It is also possible they could get their fishing licenses suspended if they are charged on unlawful ownership of wild animals, a charge related to the walleye fillets on the boat and in the walleye’s stomach.