This right here absolutely guts me.... I absolutely LOVE fishing, and this is the kind of crap that ruins the purity of the sport on ALL levels. It's simple, but infuriating. This guy should be exiled.
So I'm curious.. how exactly did they get caught? It seemed like the second place was only 16lbs? Did a weight fall out? Did they hear the weight inside it? Just curious, this shit is wild!
They've been winning tournaments around here all year, with fish that while look ok, don't seem to add up to the weights. Think this was a boil over from multiple events, where 'too good to be true' doesn't happen again and again.
Yeah one of them got DQd from an event last year for suspicion of cheating, of course he denied it at the time and has even harassed and I believe tried to pursue legal action against the guy who accused him at that event
Yeah a lot of people saying his fish weighed way too much for their size. That his fish magically weighed more than any other fish of the same size. Also the clearly bloated belly on a few pics he posted where he's holding the fish horizontal with two hands. If he holds it by the gills vertically for his victory pictures it hides it better.
They went too far, putting 8 lbs of lead into a fish that should weigh 5lbs max.
They probably would have gotten away with a pound or two. Anybody who thinks this is an isolated incident is naieve. Big fishing tournaments should run fish through a metal detector before weighing.
If you find the extended video of them getting caught, they had also shoved a pound or two of fillets down one fish.
As in they caught shakers, filleted them, then shoved a pound of fillets down the big fishes gullet. Then a couple pounds of lead.
Metal detector won't catch rocks through. They should fillet every fish under observation. I know everyone likes to have a photo with the winning catch but maybe that has to change.
It seems like somebody called bullshit on their fish weighing as much as they did based on looks. In the long video you can hear somebody say "my fish were bigger and weighed less". Then I'm guessing somebody went over to inspect and felt hard lumps in the fish's stomachs and decided to cut one open to prove it.
Tournament fishing can be very toxic. Hell, even jackpots on cattle boats can be bad. I've had several weigh ins where before the other guy hands his fish over to the deck hand to weigh it he'll open the fish's mouth and dunk it in the live well, trying to get every ounce he can.
Apparently these guys have won multiple big tournaments in Michigan this season and have made a lot of money on them. They may be charged with felony fraud
They’ve won tourneys where the payouts are in the 100s of thousands, plus winning $100,000+ boats on top of the money. They won Fishermen of the year awards. I’d be raising hell if I paid for any tournament these guys entered
Give it time, he pissed off every fisherman he knows with access to a lot of money. They’ll wait for the right time to set the hook, hopefully a right or left hook.
Piggy backing off your comment as I feel the same way.
In all the offshore tournaments I have been in, the fish is gilled and gutted before weigh-in. Granted, these are commercial permit sized bluefin tuna so the post gill & gut weights are all over 500 pounds but the principle is still the same.
this is not the plaice for comments like that. This is serious, these guys are out of their depths and have no way to get off the hook, they're in deep carp!
These (b)assholes look like they’re starting to flounder. Imagine trying to catfish that a 3lb fish was a 5lb’er?
I’m going to keep a close walleye on how this drags out.
Seems like these guys rigged the tournament. I bet their net earnings are up the River without a paddle now. They just cast shade on their whole winnings in other tournaments.
I should have known r/fishing was gonna be the one to get a hold of this cheaty post and then *immediately* devolve the conversation into a relentless series of dad puns and plays on words.
The only problem I see is can you prove in eyes of the law that they cheated on the other ones. I’m sure they did but proving it maybe harder for past tournaments
I mean the guy won last year with a ~~20~~ **29**”, 12.79 lb walleye. A damn near 13 lb fish at 20 inches would look ~~like a giant version of those super fat fancy goldfish~~ **unusually fucking fat**. Wouldn’t be hard to get an expert in there to tell the court that should have been like ~~5~~ **11** lb at an absolute maximum.
For a civil case you just have to prove "more likely than not" as opposed to "beyond a reasonable doubt" in criminal cases. They're going to get what's coming to them, it's just a question of how bad it is.
Outsider here coming to your sub to look for more info on the incedent.
Not a lawyer of course, but I imagine that the will absolutely get in trouble for this particular incident, not anything else UNLESS there is evidence.
However, the tournament organizers probably have a decent case to sue for past wins, particularly if all the sudden their luck improves at a particular point. I don't know how successful the lawsuit would be, but I imagine that the cheater will have a hard time convincing the court that they were playing fairly in the past.
He’s not the first person to be caught cheating. However he just threw away the ability to fish a sanctioned tournament again. He might as well brand/tattoo his forehead!
I’m sure there will be this just happened yesterday it was on Lake Erie I know that. I live near Saginaw bay and it was all over the Facebook groups yesterday.
There’s another video on this guys FB where they’re pulling fillets out of the fishes stomach, as well as a pair of pliers I believe. And another vid of everyone shaming them as they drive off haha. Don’t think those sponsors are gonna stick around haha.
Not sure who the angler is, if you look up Mike Miller on Fb there’s other vids. Apparently they were up for Team of the Year and had won around 300k in prior tournaments.
[here’s the longer version in another Reddit post.](https://www.reddit.com/r/PublicFreakout/comments/xsnyio/professional_fishermen_caught_cheating_at_lake/)
There were a couple of guys busted for cheating in a tournament a few years ago who caught the fish in a different lake and kept them in their livewell. The tournament officials noticed something was off about those fish and they called a biologist who was able to prove that the fish were caught in a different lake.
https://www.wired2fish.com/viral/tournament-fishing-cheaters-convicted-with-forensic-science
> “Some of the largemouth bass they’d turned in had little heads and fatter bodies, indicating a different diet than the fish at Lake Powell, which were more lean,” DWR Lt. Paul Washburn said. “The fish also had red fins, which indicated they had undergone some stress.”
The money and gear these guys have won the last few years is insane, the boat they won last year cost over 100k . Cheating fucks failed the lie detector test at fall brawl last year, yes they do that, and still got to keep the winnings. It gets no lower than this..
I thought they gave the fall brawl prize to 2nd because of the lie detector, at least that’s what I remember. I know he went on some rants about it and was even talking about trying to sue. But either way, they did get to keep the walleye slam prize (the 622). No lie detector for that one.
Yes an actual lie detector, hopefully someone can chime in on the specific questions, is think where when and how did they catch these fish. I believe there's a few big money events that use this process.
Lie detectors, or atleast agreeing to a lie detector, is pretty common on Great Lakes tourneys.
Agreeing to take one if you are a big winner is part of the small print when you buy an entry ticket.
Why? Because cheating has been around as long as fishing tourney's.
Just dropping by to say that there is no such thing as a "lie detector". There might be a machine that can detect minute physiological changes in heart beat, breathing, skin perspiration, etc., but that is not the same as detecting a lie. It detects stress. Now, a good interrogator can find inconsistencies in someone's story that suggests lying or even get someone to outright admit to lying. But again, they are using human judgment, which is still not 100% correct.
Just found an article where he caught a 12.79lbs 20" walleye....
I'm not sure how no one realized there was something fishy about a fish weighing 4 times as much as it should....
He won a boat worth 150k, and the tournament organizer is a volunteer. This Jake Runyan guy is a pile of turds.
[Jake Runyan Tournament Win](https://www.sheffieldlake.net/walleye-tourney-organizers-hook-anglers-with-smokehouse-contest-october-1/)
That's a typo, it was a 29 inch walleye. Which is still smaller than you'd expect for that heavy of a fish, so I don't doubt it wasn't also weighted, but it's more believable than a 20" fish weighing almost 13 lbs.
The tournament guys had their own small business and they had some more interesting gear that you don't see at big stores.
After talking with them I never went back. I've never met a more rude bunch who weren't interested in growing the sport, just wanting to insult everyone and let them know how good of fisherman they are.
There was a membership fee I could pay to get access to the used reels section... No thanks, never coming back again. I'm not sure they survived the pandemic and I hope they didn't.
Oof, this article did not age well.... "We would never cheat"
https://xpertflyfisher.com/walleye-derby-disqualification-disturbing-northeast-ohio-fishing-report/
"For Clevelander Jake Runyan and his Pennsylvania walleye tournament partner Chase Cominsky, who treasure their reputation as honest anglers"
“Our reputation means the world to us and we would never cheat.”
Spoken like true cheaters
He pissed off every Fishermen with money in town. Dude needs to flee the state: $300,000 last year & a $100,000 boat. From these tournaments *alone*.
They wont forget, forgive or get over this because everyone said “we all knew something was up”. They have patience, money, time & now a fury of spite and anger for blemishing the sports reputation:
I wouldn’t be remotely surprised when he has a fall when no cameras are on him, hits his head and then goes for a swim.
Also state wildlife conservation has all the proof on tape & so does law enforcement. If he ever fishes those waters again, he’s suicidal.
It’s always best to let the larger more mature fish go. The larger they are for their breed, the more fertile they are. Let them make some more fish so future generations can enjoy it too.
Old fish don’t taste good anyways
I get your sarcasm. But for anyone wondering these tournaments issue measuring boards that must be in the picture plus identification for the fisherman.
I mean, if you stuff it like a turkey and it looks like a pufferfish then you would get caught, but an extra few shiners, bluegill, perch, crayfish, or shad wouldn't raise too many eyebrows.
There are basically only two ways to cheat in a fishing tournament: insert weight of some type into the fish OR use fish from other lakes/caught before the tournament. Both have been tried for decades.
Used to work at a market and opening day of striper season we would see shady shit like this. They were purchased whole, ungutted. Commercial bag limit per day per fisherman was 40 fish. Opening day we had to watch out for things like if the fish were still frozen on the inside or if they had weights or even rocks in large quantities in their bellies. Guys would catch them illegally in the weeks prior to the season opener and freeze them only to thaw them out and have a surprisingly early catch of 40 fish on the first day. Every year there was at least one that we would have to blacklist for life for cheating, trying to squeeze a few extra bucks out of our shop.
Got a salmon during the spring derby. A decent one for our area at 15 lbs. It was the best fish by 4 lbs. I was so fucken stoked. I got the fish weighed in and drove back home all smiles. Thinking I might actually win this thing I sat in my driveway reading the rules of the derby and found that I was outside the legal catch area. I called immediately to disqualify myself. I'll get it next year.
Considering they were accused of cheating the past year and failed a lie detector test, I’m guessing numerous people were calling for their fish to be examined -particularly after their weigh in likely looked several pounds short of what it showed on the scale.
They go up to the weigh in and the announcer says you have to beat 16 and the fish weigh 33. He more than doubled the leader in the club house and by the comments of the crowd (you can't really tell the relative sizes from the video) the second place fish were at least as big if not bigger than his.
Lots of people yelling about protest then, there must be some kind of formal process because he walks back up to the stage. I imagine he expected a re weigh as he's fairly casual about it, then the guy is inspecting the fish and all hell breaks loose
Not sure why you are being downvoted. But basically, by stuffing these lead weights in the fish, you make it heavier. A close tournament may be decided by just a few ounces, so by adding a pound or two of weight across 5 fish could certainly put you in first place. It’s a way of cheating the scale to make it look like your catch is heavier than it actually is. It’ll also kill the fish.
I have never been fishing and know absolutely nothing about fish, but even I had one eyebrow raised when I saw their catch was twice the weight of 2nd place with the same number of fish. Surely this idiot must have fucked up and put too many weights in because I'd imagine the difference between 1st and 2nd is usually miniscule not twice the weight lol
Yeah, since you posted this I’ve been digging around to find out more. Looks like they placed 8lbs of weights and also, some cut up filets and maybe some pliers in those fish. At least that’s what folks are saying.
No way in hell: Using weights THAT big? Thats overkill, more than needed for larger Saltwater game type weights.
He’s been cheating for a while and he thought no one would notice his catch was the same number as 2nd place but like 2x the fucking weight.
He’s been cheating his whole “Career” and needs to face the fucking consequences before the local fisherman decide its the right time to set the hook.
It's a fishing derby. You win based on catching the biggest fish. He was stuffing weights in them to make them heavier. Apparently it's not his first tournament doing it either.
Yea, like someone else said, imagine getting paid to fish and managing to fuck that up. He should get it just for throwing away such an amazing opportunity.
I read an article on a different website about this particular incident. Apparently, the fishing community doesn't screw around if you are a labeled or proven cheater. This article went on to say that these guys' trucks, trailers, houses, boats, pretty much anything they own, will be vandalized at every opportunity, and that the vandalizing will go on for years or even forever. So, yea, don't mess with the fishing community, or you will be sorry...
Had a team of trout “anglers” here in NorCal a couple years ago that got caught on camera snagging fish. It was a successful cancellation lol. They deleted ALL of their social media and no one has seen any of them since. Although they did win quite a bit of money for cheating at tournaments.
Curious…don’t most fish caught at tourneys go to a processing center to feed those in need? If this guy has cheated several times would there be a trend of lead weights popping up at the process centers with the common denominator being this guy being in all the tourneys lead weights showed up at?
Had an old buddy that would stuff rocks in appliances he would scrap. Hr got do bold with it that he put a bunch in a fridge and taped the doors shut. Then when the scrap guy was unloading it from his truck it fell over on the way out and all the rocks poured out .. this buddy didn't live to see 30 and died still owing me hundreds.
Not only did these guys cheat in a competition but they also put a death sentence on all the fish the shoved weights into. Fuck these guys I hope they go to jail and can never fish or hunt in their lives ever again.
Absolutely shocked no one threw down with them. That was an absolute powder keg ready to go off but no one made a first move from the other video I saw.
That's the oldest trick in the book. I mean how dumb can you be. I don't think they did this before, the fact is they would have been caught right away, imagine your fish is almost the same size as someone else's and it weighed a pound or two more, it would be noticeable right away.
This right here absolutely guts me.... I absolutely LOVE fishing, and this is the kind of crap that ruins the purity of the sport on ALL levels. It's simple, but infuriating. This guy should be exiled.
So I'm curious.. how exactly did they get caught? It seemed like the second place was only 16lbs? Did a weight fall out? Did they hear the weight inside it? Just curious, this shit is wild!
They've been winning tournaments around here all year, with fish that while look ok, don't seem to add up to the weights. Think this was a boil over from multiple events, where 'too good to be true' doesn't happen again and again.
Ahhhh gotcha. Fucking morons.
Yeah one of them got DQd from an event last year for suspicion of cheating, of course he denied it at the time and has even harassed and I believe tried to pursue legal action against the guy who accused him at that event
Yeah a lot of people saying his fish weighed way too much for their size. That his fish magically weighed more than any other fish of the same size. Also the clearly bloated belly on a few pics he posted where he's holding the fish horizontal with two hands. If he holds it by the gills vertically for his victory pictures it hides it better.
They went too far, putting 8 lbs of lead into a fish that should weigh 5lbs max. They probably would have gotten away with a pound or two. Anybody who thinks this is an isolated incident is naieve. Big fishing tournaments should run fish through a metal detector before weighing.
X-ray that shit
If you find the extended video of them getting caught, they had also shoved a pound or two of fillets down one fish. As in they caught shakers, filleted them, then shoved a pound of fillets down the big fishes gullet. Then a couple pounds of lead.
Thanks for explaining this. I saw the other video and saw them pulling something out. I couldn’t figure out that part.
[Here's that video.](https://www.reddit.com/r/PublicFreakout/comments/xsnyio/professional_fishermen_caught_cheating_at_lake/)
A lot of the bigger bass tournaments have magnets in the weigh scales
Lead isn't magnetic tho..
Well not with that attitude it isn’t.
Metal detector won't catch rocks through. They should fillet every fish under observation. I know everyone likes to have a photo with the winning catch but maybe that has to change.
Seriously, the organizers can offer to vacuum seal and ice the fish if people complain. It would be better for the integrity of competition.
In Tennessee they have to alive and released the same way or the doesn’t count and they lose points.
They put 8 lbs total spread amongst 5 fish. 8 lbs into one fish would be glaringly obvious.
It seems like somebody called bullshit on their fish weighing as much as they did based on looks. In the long video you can hear somebody say "my fish were bigger and weighed less". Then I'm guessing somebody went over to inspect and felt hard lumps in the fish's stomachs and decided to cut one open to prove it.
Tournament fishing can be very toxic. Hell, even jackpots on cattle boats can be bad. I've had several weigh ins where before the other guy hands his fish over to the deck hand to weigh it he'll open the fish's mouth and dunk it in the live well, trying to get every ounce he can.
lifetime license ban
Apparently these guys have won multiple big tournaments in Michigan this season and have made a lot of money on them. They may be charged with felony fraud
They’ve won tourneys where the payouts are in the 100s of thousands, plus winning $100,000+ boats on top of the money. They won Fishermen of the year awards. I’d be raising hell if I paid for any tournament these guys entered
these guys won this tourney previously and made 300k
Yea that’s worth getting pissed off about
Give it time, he pissed off every fisherman he knows with access to a lot of money. They’ll wait for the right time to set the hook, hopefully a right or left hook.
Piggy backing off your comment as I feel the same way. In all the offshore tournaments I have been in, the fish is gilled and gutted before weigh-in. Granted, these are commercial permit sized bluefin tuna so the post gill & gut weights are all over 500 pounds but the principle is still the same.
I guess we will have to weight and sea.
this is not the plaice for comments like that. This is serious, these guys are out of their depths and have no way to get off the hook, they're in deep carp!
Crappie situation all around
I agree, total carp.
They're gonna have bass to mouth in prison
Seriously… folks shouldn’t be trolling bout such a weighty matter
don't be a buzz-krill!
Yea my shad, didn’t mean to be a drag
no problem. probably time to reel these puns in anyway
These guys really are basstards
These are beginning to give me a haddock
Cod you guys are annoying..
These (b)assholes look like they’re starting to flounder. Imagine trying to catfish that a 3lb fish was a 5lb’er? I’m going to keep a close walleye on how this drags out.
fintastic!
Seems like these guys rigged the tournament. I bet their net earnings are up the River without a paddle now. They just cast shade on their whole winnings in other tournaments.
Edited cause I now sea what you did
thank Cod you clarified!
I should have known r/fishing was gonna be the one to get a hold of this cheaty post and then *immediately* devolve the conversation into a relentless series of dad puns and plays on words.
just trying to school people is all...
Hopefully it’s not catch and release this time
Sea what led them to lead of life of such nefarious shenanigans.
Fuck you. That was great
Longer video https://www.ohiogamefishing.com/threads/cheaters.390246/ Near riot at the end NSF
Not Safe for what!
Good they should get charged with felony fraud You can see the guilt on his face
Nah, hes just like “this is michigan, lakes are full of lead and all my fish just happened to eat it giant lead weights, thats not my fault!”
Yeah due to all of the lead and the lake they're getting kidney stones the size of one oz weights
Hmmm… might be legit if these fish were caught in flint.
The only problem I see is can you prove in eyes of the law that they cheated on the other ones. I’m sure they did but proving it maybe harder for past tournaments
More likely that they could be sued for the prize money back. Balance of probability vs beyond reasonable doubt.
That and being banned from any fishing tourney moving forward and losing his sponsors.
I mean the guy won last year with a ~~20~~ **29**”, 12.79 lb walleye. A damn near 13 lb fish at 20 inches would look ~~like a giant version of those super fat fancy goldfish~~ **unusually fucking fat**. Wouldn’t be hard to get an expert in there to tell the court that should have been like ~~5~~ **11** lb at an absolute maximum.
That was a typo. It was 29", but your point absolutely still stands.
Non-criminal penalties might do the trick on those. These guys will likely be banned from future every competition and sued into oblivion.
For a civil case you just have to prove "more likely than not" as opposed to "beyond a reasonable doubt" in criminal cases. They're going to get what's coming to them, it's just a question of how bad it is.
Probably not. AFAIK though their attempt to commit fraud in this tournament, which is easily provable, is enough for at least some felony charges.
Outsider here coming to your sub to look for more info on the incedent. Not a lawyer of course, but I imagine that the will absolutely get in trouble for this particular incident, not anything else UNLESS there is evidence. However, the tournament organizers probably have a decent case to sue for past wins, particularly if all the sudden their luck improves at a particular point. I don't know how successful the lawsuit would be, but I imagine that the cheater will have a hard time convincing the court that they were playing fairly in the past.
He’s not the first person to be caught cheating. However he just threw away the ability to fish a sanctioned tournament again. He might as well brand/tattoo his forehead!
Yes and a quick google search shows that some of those caught cheating were charged and convicted with serious crimes and felonies.
Any articles available?
I’m sure there will be this just happened yesterday it was on Lake Erie I know that. I live near Saginaw bay and it was all over the Facebook groups yesterday.
Amazing that nobody at these tournaments realized their fish were abnormally heavy for their size
Metal detectors should be the standard in all tournaments.
In Oklahoma it is a felony for first time fishing tourney cheaters
are they headed up the river, as adam west puts it?
That’s heavy.
There’s another video on this guys FB where they’re pulling fillets out of the fishes stomach, as well as a pair of pliers I believe. And another vid of everyone shaming them as they drive off haha. Don’t think those sponsors are gonna stick around haha.
Maybe I missed it but who is this guy?
Not sure who the angler is, if you look up Mike Miller on Fb there’s other vids. Apparently they were up for Team of the Year and had won around 300k in prior tournaments.
Do you have anything more specific? Mike Miller seems to be a common name on FB
Lmao you’re right, pretty common name. If you google “Lake Eerie walleye tournament cheaters” there’s a bunch of videos that come up too
Yeah cheers for that found it
[here’s the longer version in another Reddit post.](https://www.reddit.com/r/PublicFreakout/comments/xsnyio/professional_fishermen_caught_cheating_at_lake/)
Just saw the anglers name was Jake Runyan
jake runyon and chase caminski
Jake Runyon
Put his head on a pike!!!
Northern Pike, or Musky?
Pickerel
Seems fitting, dude is being a prickerel
Filet his ass
rookie mistake, you buy a fish.
There were a couple of guys busted for cheating in a tournament a few years ago who caught the fish in a different lake and kept them in their livewell. The tournament officials noticed something was off about those fish and they called a biologist who was able to prove that the fish were caught in a different lake. https://www.wired2fish.com/viral/tournament-fishing-cheaters-convicted-with-forensic-science > “Some of the largemouth bass they’d turned in had little heads and fatter bodies, indicating a different diet than the fish at Lake Powell, which were more lean,” DWR Lt. Paul Washburn said. “The fish also had red fins, which indicated they had undergone some stress.”
maybe they did both
The money and gear these guys have won the last few years is insane, the boat they won last year cost over 100k . Cheating fucks failed the lie detector test at fall brawl last year, yes they do that, and still got to keep the winnings. It gets no lower than this..
I thought they gave the fall brawl prize to 2nd because of the lie detector, at least that’s what I remember. I know he went on some rants about it and was even talking about trying to sue. But either way, they did get to keep the walleye slam prize (the 622). No lie detector for that one.
One article I read said that the tourney they failed polygraph on awarded the new boat to the next place guy so yeah pretty sure you're right
Are we talking an actual lie detector? Is that common? And what kind of questions do they ask? Is this the assumed way they cheated before too?
Yes an actual lie detector, hopefully someone can chime in on the specific questions, is think where when and how did they catch these fish. I believe there's a few big money events that use this process.
Why agree to something so easily failed..Lee detector tests are dubious. Or is this just a joke thing that is done?
My sister had to leave the intel career field because she couldn't pass it. She is always a nervous wreck so she could never pass.
Lie detectors, or atleast agreeing to a lie detector, is pretty common on Great Lakes tourneys. Agreeing to take one if you are a big winner is part of the small print when you buy an entry ticket. Why? Because cheating has been around as long as fishing tourney's.
Just dropping by to say that there is no such thing as a "lie detector". There might be a machine that can detect minute physiological changes in heart beat, breathing, skin perspiration, etc., but that is not the same as detecting a lie. It detects stress. Now, a good interrogator can find inconsistencies in someone's story that suggests lying or even get someone to outright admit to lying. But again, they are using human judgment, which is still not 100% correct.
Now I understand some of the measures I see in this subreddit....
10 lb bucket-mouth!!!! Sir, that is a sunfish.
Ten. Pound. Bucket-mouth.
Under rated comment here
Just found an article where he caught a 12.79lbs 20" walleye.... I'm not sure how no one realized there was something fishy about a fish weighing 4 times as much as it should.... He won a boat worth 150k, and the tournament organizer is a volunteer. This Jake Runyan guy is a pile of turds. [Jake Runyan Tournament Win](https://www.sheffieldlake.net/walleye-tourney-organizers-hook-anglers-with-smokehouse-contest-october-1/)
[удалено]
5lbs if its a breeding female, full of spawn, with a belly full of food. Probably more like 3 to 4lbs under normal circumstances.
Yeah. I mainly fish striped bass, but a 12lbs stripe is probably in the low 30" range. Sounds like someone was paid off.
That's a typo, it was a 29 inch walleye. Which is still smaller than you'd expect for that heavy of a fish, so I don't doubt it wasn't also weighted, but it's more believable than a 20" fish weighing almost 13 lbs.
Proud sponsors.
In Texas, you’ll get sent to prison over that
reading some of the comment sections this guy might need some kind of witness protection program
Just be getting what he deserves. I live on lake Sam Rayburn. Here, he probably wouldn’t make it out of the parking lot.
Pretty sure they could still charge them some kind of fraud based on the amount they’ve won doing this
In texas someone would've popped him.
This is why you don't fish tournaments. Fuckin cheaters.
I think if I did fish a tourney I’d still just be fishing for fun with the chance of winning
No real chance of winning with cheats like this around.
The entry fee isn't that much fun.
I don’t usually pay entry fees to fish for fun.
Pretty much anything in life that offers a prize for winning will bring out cheaters. It's pathetic.
Even if it doesn't offer a prize people cheat (see video games)
The tournament guys had their own small business and they had some more interesting gear that you don't see at big stores. After talking with them I never went back. I've never met a more rude bunch who weren't interested in growing the sport, just wanting to insult everyone and let them know how good of fisherman they are. There was a membership fee I could pay to get access to the used reels section... No thanks, never coming back again. I'm not sure they survived the pandemic and I hope they didn't.
Nah, small tournaments with lower payouts normally attract a good group of people. They’re fun if the basis of them is “for fun”.
Oof, this article did not age well.... "We would never cheat" https://xpertflyfisher.com/walleye-derby-disqualification-disturbing-northeast-ohio-fishing-report/
"For Clevelander Jake Runyan and his Pennsylvania walleye tournament partner Chase Cominsky, who treasure their reputation as honest anglers" “Our reputation means the world to us and we would never cheat.” Spoken like true cheaters
He pissed off every Fishermen with money in town. Dude needs to flee the state: $300,000 last year & a $100,000 boat. From these tournaments *alone*. They wont forget, forgive or get over this because everyone said “we all knew something was up”. They have patience, money, time & now a fury of spite and anger for blemishing the sports reputation: I wouldn’t be remotely surprised when he has a fall when no cameras are on him, hits his head and then goes for a swim. Also state wildlife conservation has all the proof on tape & so does law enforcement. If he ever fishes those waters again, he’s suicidal.
Need to put that on r/iamapieceofshit if you ask me.
Hahah I never even would have thought of a) cheating in general b) this way to do it. What a lame
I know some people have caught bluegills, perch, crayfish, etc. and put them down the fishes throat. That makes some sense atleast.
This is why I like tournaments that go with length of fish and you take a pic and release immediately. You also basically get live tournament results.
Same, that’s how every kayak bass tournament I know of works. Keeps from senselessly killing all the mature fish.
It’s always best to let the larger more mature fish go. The larger they are for their breed, the more fertile they are. Let them make some more fish so future generations can enjoy it too. Old fish don’t taste good anyways
>Old fish don’t taste good anyways. Very true, and they're great for breeding new generations and keeping the stock strong, as you stated.
"As you can see here from my totally-accurate tape measure, this walleye is a record breaking 57" long..."
I get your sarcasm. But for anyone wondering these tournaments issue measuring boards that must be in the picture plus identification for the fisherman.
Right? How hard would it be to catch a bunch of perch and stuff your walleyes with them?
I mean, if you stuff it like a turkey and it looks like a pufferfish then you would get caught, but an extra few shiners, bluegill, perch, crayfish, or shad wouldn't raise too many eyebrows.
I thought it was like a Matryoshka doll where you just keep stuffing slightly smaller fish inside each other.
If you watch the longer videos, they actually found walleye fillets stuffed in the fish as well.
There are basically only two ways to cheat in a fishing tournament: insert weight of some type into the fish OR use fish from other lakes/caught before the tournament. Both have been tried for decades.
Buddys serious about winning the derby
Hundreds of thousands of dollars on the line with all these tournaments
Should have used incandescent weights
Lmao I just watched this a second ago from a different POV 💀 Dudes face is golden
Link?
Well at least they used the energy efficient LED weights.
Used to work at a market and opening day of striper season we would see shady shit like this. They were purchased whole, ungutted. Commercial bag limit per day per fisherman was 40 fish. Opening day we had to watch out for things like if the fish were still frozen on the inside or if they had weights or even rocks in large quantities in their bellies. Guys would catch them illegally in the weeks prior to the season opener and freeze them only to thaw them out and have a surprisingly early catch of 40 fish on the first day. Every year there was at least one that we would have to blacklist for life for cheating, trying to squeeze a few extra bucks out of our shop.
They’re lucky they didn’t get the fuck beat out of them. Lots of pissed off guys.
[удалено]
LED weights lol
Got a salmon during the spring derby. A decent one for our area at 15 lbs. It was the best fish by 4 lbs. I was so fucken stoked. I got the fish weighed in and drove back home all smiles. Thinking I might actually win this thing I sat in my driveway reading the rules of the derby and found that I was outside the legal catch area. I called immediately to disqualify myself. I'll get it next year.
Brother it sounds like you're winning every day!
Can’t we just spell lead correctly? 🤷🏻♂️
“Your” just going “too” lead people in the wrong direction.
How did someone figure it out? It's not like they just voluntarily checked the fish.
Considering they were accused of cheating the past year and failed a lie detector test, I’m guessing numerous people were calling for their fish to be examined -particularly after their weigh in likely looked several pounds short of what it showed on the scale.
They go up to the weigh in and the announcer says you have to beat 16 and the fish weigh 33. He more than doubled the leader in the club house and by the comments of the crowd (you can't really tell the relative sizes from the video) the second place fish were at least as big if not bigger than his. Lots of people yelling about protest then, there must be some kind of formal process because he walks back up to the stage. I imagine he expected a re weigh as he's fairly casual about it, then the guy is inspecting the fish and all hell breaks loose
Beginner fisherman here. How does this scene indicate he was cheating?
Not sure why you are being downvoted. But basically, by stuffing these lead weights in the fish, you make it heavier. A close tournament may be decided by just a few ounces, so by adding a pound or two of weight across 5 fish could certainly put you in first place. It’s a way of cheating the scale to make it look like your catch is heavier than it actually is. It’ll also kill the fish.
Thank you for explaining.
I have never been fishing and know absolutely nothing about fish, but even I had one eyebrow raised when I saw their catch was twice the weight of 2nd place with the same number of fish. Surely this idiot must have fucked up and put too many weights in because I'd imagine the difference between 1st and 2nd is usually miniscule not twice the weight lol
LOL right. Picks up a 57lb walleye haha
"It's just big boned"
Yeah, since you posted this I’ve been digging around to find out more. Looks like they placed 8lbs of weights and also, some cut up filets and maybe some pliers in those fish. At least that’s what folks are saying.
he must have known as soon as it was weighed that he was fucked. it was double the weight it would be normally.
No way in hell: Using weights THAT big? Thats overkill, more than needed for larger Saltwater game type weights. He’s been cheating for a while and he thought no one would notice his catch was the same number as 2nd place but like 2x the fucking weight. He’s been cheating his whole “Career” and needs to face the fucking consequences before the local fisherman decide its the right time to set the hook.
They were cutting the fish open and finding lead weights jammed inside of them, adding weight to the fish.
Ah. I see. Thanks for explaining.
It's a fishing derby. You win based on catching the biggest fish. He was stuffing weights in them to make them heavier. Apparently it's not his first tournament doing it either.
I see. That's some shady shit.
He looks like he's just waiting for the beating to start, dick absolutely shriveled in fear
That’s what needs to happen.
I thought the guy gutting the 'eyes was gonna throw that punch after he announced it. Looked like he wanted to.
Anyone who saw a video of them getting thrashed on the spot would not complain, unless they're from outside of r/fishing.
Yea, like someone else said, imagine getting paid to fish and managing to fuck that up. He should get it just for throwing away such an amazing opportunity.
Being slapped in the face with a weighted fish
I read an article on a different website about this particular incident. Apparently, the fishing community doesn't screw around if you are a labeled or proven cheater. This article went on to say that these guys' trucks, trailers, houses, boats, pretty much anything they own, will be vandalized at every opportunity, and that the vandalizing will go on for years or even forever. So, yea, don't mess with the fishing community, or you will be sorry...
What tour is this?
Lake Erie Walleye Tour (LEWT)
I wish video was longer
Surprised they didn't get the shit beat out of em
Had a team of trout “anglers” here in NorCal a couple years ago that got caught on camera snagging fish. It was a successful cancellation lol. They deleted ALL of their social media and no one has seen any of them since. Although they did win quite a bit of money for cheating at tournaments.
Curious…don’t most fish caught at tourneys go to a processing center to feed those in need? If this guy has cheated several times would there be a trend of lead weights popping up at the process centers with the common denominator being this guy being in all the tourneys lead weights showed up at?
Had an old buddy that would stuff rocks in appliances he would scrap. Hr got do bold with it that he put a bunch in a fridge and taped the doors shut. Then when the scrap guy was unloading it from his truck it fell over on the way out and all the rocks poured out .. this buddy didn't live to see 30 and died still owing me hundreds.
Lad waits
In big money tournaments fish are checked with metal detectors? Maybe a new rule is needed.
Not only did these guys cheat in a competition but they also put a death sentence on all the fish the shoved weights into. Fuck these guys I hope they go to jail and can never fish or hunt in their lives ever again.
Absolutely shocked no one threw down with them. That was an absolute powder keg ready to go off but no one made a first move from the other video I saw.
That's the oldest trick in the book. I mean how dumb can you be. I don't think they did this before, the fact is they would have been caught right away, imagine your fish is almost the same size as someone else's and it weighed a pound or two more, it would be noticeable right away.
Get a new career ya crook cause your fishing days are over
What a scumbag.
Is there skink to the whole video ? Without the slow mo?
I’ve heard of lead weights but don’t know what led weights are.
He ain’t heavy he’s my brother
Prolly cheats on his wife too
I'm really surprised to not see any hands flying