The world of competitive fishing has been rocked by a cheating scandal in which a competitor is accused of stuffing his catch with lead weights in an attempt to boost his score.
In a video taken showing the moment the alleged cheating is revealed, Tournament Director Jason Fischer can be heard shouting: "We got weights in fish!"
As furious competitors gather round swearing and shouting, Mr Fischer can be seen cutting open and taking multiple round weights out of fish.
The incident occurred at the Lake Erie Walleye Trail (LEWT), an annual competition where contestants fish across the massive Lake Eria.
The winner is the angler who gets the highest total weight for five walleyes, a type of local fish, caught in Lake Erie.
The alleged cheaters, Jacob Runyan and teammate, Chase Cominsky, were set to win over $28,000 (£24,700) in prize money but their fortune quickly turned on the discovery.
In a statement posted since the discovery, Fischer said: "On Friday 9.30am of 2022 we witnessed the most disgusting dishonest acts that the fishing world has ever seen in our lifetime.
"There’s always been stories about dishonesty in competition but I personally have never seen anything quite like it this in competitive fishing."
He continued: "The individuals involved here appear to have put greed and ego above anything else, forever tainting our sport."
Mr Fischer suspecting there was something amiss when the suspected cheating haul weighed far over what would be expected. He told CNN : “I thought, there’s just no way. I could also hear the crowd grumbling, like ‘no way, there’s no way.’ “
“I physically felt the fish, I could feel hard objects inside the fish".
As things get heated, the footage shows Fischer telling Runyan to leave the area and also tells the crowd not to touch him.
Information about the alleged cheating has been turned over to the Ohio Department of Natural Resources, who are preparing a report for the Cuyahoga County Prosecutor’s Office.
A spokesperson said: “As this is an open investigation, we have no further comment at this time”.
Fischer went on to say: "To see so much negative light on the sport hurts me to the core. Fishing is a national past time and something that is passed down from generation to generation."
He heaped praise on previous winners and said: "These things are the things that need to be spotlighted right now, not 12 ounce weights and dishonesty.
He has said the two, Runyan and Cominsky, would never be allowed to fish at his tournament again.
