Competitive fishing has a cheating problem, and these Canadian anglers say they've seen it happen

A cheating scandal rocking the U.S. fishing competition scene has opened a can of worms about dishonesty in the sport, with some anglers in Canada saying it's happened here, too, and they're ready for the truth to come out.

"We would like this story to go public to get the justice all the honest anglers deserve," said Mitch Zinally, 38, a Toronto angler who has been competing in Canadian tournaments since 2017.

"It paints the rest of us as being dishonest," said his teammate Brandon Kadoski, 35, who lives in Richmond, Ont.

The duo — a multi-species fishing team that have fished together coast to coast — recently competed in an online Canadian tournament with its "fundamentals based on the honour system," Kadoski said.

It was their fifth year competing, and the third year they say they caught others cheating. One year, they say someone tried to submit a frozen fish; another, they say someone submitted a fish that was not their own catch; and this year, they say they have proof that another competitor cheated by manipulating the tape measure — cutting it — that he used to measure a fish, altering how long it appeared.

They also claim tournament officials knew about each instance and "swept it under the rug." 

Due to their fears of personal and professional repercussions, Zinally and Kadoski requested that the tournament not be named, but CBC News has viewed videos, screen grabs, and social media posts about the alleged incident and where it took place. CBC News has contacted tournament officials for comment but had not heard back by Wednesday night.

The accusations come to light just as a fishing tournament in Ohio turned ugly last week after an apparent cheating scandal. An expletive-laced video posted to social