CLEVELAND — This fish tale starts in Cleveland, at a tournament on Lake Erie.
Walleye were weighed and a champion named, but something seemed off.
It wasn’t just the catch that was “fishy,” and a quick knife down one walleye sunk the new champions hopes of taking any prizes home when weights and fillets were found inside.
“It’s one thing when you’re sitting at a bar and the fish you say is this big is actually this big,” avid fisherman Adam VanHo says. “That’s one thing, but these competitions bring people in from all around the country.”
VanHo should know: Not only is he an angler; he’s a criminal defense attorney. While the competitors — Jake Runyan and Chase Cominsky — haven’t been charged with a crime, that is something that’s being considered, especially since some tournaments have prizes north of $100,000, including boats.
“We call it ‘theft by deception,'” VanHo explained, “which essentially is you tried to steal something by making what you’re turning over different.”
While some are frustrated about the finances, others are hurt by men they considered friends out on the lake.
“I’m angered about it, I’m sad about it,” Northeast Ohio angler Kenny Morris said. “I’ve known Chase and I’ve known Jake, and I’m no longer speaking with them. They’re blocked from me.
Despite the controversy, Morris has hopes for future tournaments and stricter protocols.
“If you’re taking a fish that’s going to make you some money, you’re going to need to cut the fish open,” he told 3News.
The end of this tale still leaves many questions, but the organizer who discovered these weighted fish wants competitors to know one thing.
“I just genuinely care about running an honest tournament,” Jacob Fischer of Lake Erie Walleye Trail said in a statement, “and Lake Erie anglers deserve it.”