PITTSBURGH — Fish stories just aren't what they used to be. To be believed, you'd better have live-streaming video, a digital scale and a lawyer. Now big-money fishing tournaments are even turning to metal detectors to prevent anglers from cheating.
Two fishermen accused of conspiring to cheat in a lucrative Lake Erie walleye tournament pleaded not guilty before a grand jury last week in Cleveland to felony charges of cheating, attempted grand theft, possession of criminal tools and alleged misdemeanors.
Jacob Runyan, 42, of Broadview Heights, Ohio, and Chase Cominsky, 35, of Hermitage in Mercer County, were the apparent winners of the heaviest five-fish catch in the Sept. 30 Lake Erie Walleye Trail tournament. Suspecting something fishy, however, the tournament director cut open their walleye and lead weights dropped out.
