Dead Weight

Cleveland, Friday, September 30, 2022, 5 pm. In the weigh-in tent at the east marina, on the shore of Lake Erie, five walleyeswalleye North American freshwater fish with large, glassy eyes, prized by anglers and fished in many sport tournaments. rest in a sealed plastic bag beside the scale.

At 3 pm, Brock Halvorsen's team put 15.4 kg on the scale, four kilos ahead of second place: a fourth straight final, $30,000 and the circuit title.

At 3:20 pm, the tournament director, Russ Ostrander, squeezed one of the fish, felt a hard lump and cut the belly open with his knife. A sinker dropped into his hand. The other four fish were sealed, unopened, for the lab.

Brock swears someone planted the lead to bring him down. Three people came near that livewelllivewell Tank on a fishing boat, with circulating water, that keeps caught fish alive until they are weighed or released. today. One of them knows what is inside the other four.

Weigh-in tent at a lakeside fishing tournament, with a digital scale and a handwritten scoreboard.