My mother always said to give people “the benefit of the doubt.” She felt that “judge not, lest ye be judged” from the Sermon on the Mount was a valuable core principle that she lived by. Assume the best in people, until you learn otherwise.
Well, in today's world, it gets tougher and tougher to follow that pledge. You trust, and sometimes you get burned.
Late Friday, the walleye fishing world was sent reeling after a cheating scandal was exposed in front of God, country, and a mob of justifiably furious walleye fishermen. Two guys – we can no longer call them fishermen without smearing the 99 percent who play by the rules – were exposed for what appears to be the most nefarious, blatant, and outrageous case of cheating that tournament walleye fishing has ever experienced.
Since we live in this drunkenly litigious climate, I will have to use every qualifier necessary – allegedly, reportedly, apparently – to relay this story, but when you have video captured from dozens of cell phones, it will be hard to build a case that their reputations have been unfairly tarnished.
WARNING: Video contains graphic language
In the walleye fishing world, they undoubtedly have no reputation left to besmirch.
In Cleveland at the weigh-in after a day of fishing in the Lake Erie Walleye Trail's last event of the 2022 season, a bomb exploded, the curtain came down, and this horrific cheating scandal was exposed.
When tournament director Jason Fischer sliced open the gullet on one of the fish that Jacob Runyan and Chase Cominsky had turned in, lead weights were exposed. Next fish – same thing. Next fish – lead weights and pieces of walleye fillets.
Runyan declined to comment Saturday about the matter, and Cominsky couldn’t be reached.
The duo had apparently, allegedly, and obviously, dropped these objects down the throats of their “catch” to enhance the weight and thus, improve their standing in the tournament. Fischer, a police officer in the Cleveland suburbs and a guy with an unassailable reputation in the Lake Erie walleye tournament ranks, was furious and threw them out of the tournament with a gesture reminiscent of the home plate umpire ejecting former New York Yankees manager Billy Martin.
Only the arrival of on-duty police officers likely saved Runyan and Cominsky from the assembled mob of “real” fishermen, many of whom had, behind the scenes, voiced their suspicions the duo had cheated in the past.
This story gets much messier. Since Runyan, of Cleveland, and Cominsky of Hermitage Pa., have already claimed the first-place prizes and considerable amounts of money in several LEWT events, including the 2021 season-ending championship, what happens now?
Legal eagles tell me that this apparent cheating in this weekend's tournament constitutes fraud and is a felony. But the pair also took the top money in this past spring's Rossford Walleye Roundup, and the huge payout in the 2021 Walleye Slam.
And even messier.
The duo weighed in the apparent top catch in last year's Lake Erie Fall Brawl and made claim for the more than $100K attached to that finish, but then were disqualified. When the tournament director at the time offered no explanation or clarity other than to say one of them had failed the polygraph, the tournament lacked the transparency it so desperately needed.
Runyan went to great lengths to proclaim, repeatedly, that they were innocent and had caught their fish by following all of the rules. He secured legal counsel and has been trying to sue the Brawl to claim their so-called winnings.
And even messier.
After the pair were awarded the first place money in the Rossford event, several other competitors shared, off the record, their suspicions that something shady had taken place. Other anglers claimed that Runyan and Cominsky's fish “looked old,” like these walleye had been caught prior to the start of the event and stashed in a live well.
Adding fuel to that charge was the additional factoid, laid out by several competitors in the event, that Runyan and Cominsky declined to donate their catch to local food banks, as most of the tournament fishermen did.
There is a ton of money hanging in limbo here, if the organizers of those previous events decide to pursue legal action.
As could be expected, there was a riot of comments following this cheating scandal being exposed. I despise the phrase “social media blew up” since there is no explanation as to what that means, but something nuclear took place once videos of the highly contentious scene at the Cleveland weigh-in were posted.
Some called it karma. Others opted to assail anyone who had considered Runyan and Cominsky innocent until proven guilty. Fair enough – the anger, frustration, and furor was boiling over along a very chilly Lake Erie shoreline.
Although it moves at a snail's pace, justice will be served. If guilty as charged, these two will lose everything, with their credibility already in the dumpster. Some will say that even jail time is not adequate punishment.
My concerns at this point are for the sport of tournament walleye fishing, and for the hundreds of good guys who have always played by the rules, followed the guidelines, and displayed nothing but character in every fishing event. A mess like this smears everyone associated with Lake Erie walleye tournament fishing, and that is remarkably unfair.
If you choose to weigh in on this (intentional phrasing), it is easy to hammer the cheaters and they likely deserve every expletive sent their way. Their judgment day is coming. But use a narrow brush – the cheaters should no longer be mentioned in the same stories as the people who have always fished by the rules.
First Published October 1, 2022, 3:36 p.m.
