Kinda bored so just asking a question here. The other thread about crowding and fight invitations and many like it get me asking myself, when I pull into an area, how much water do I think is "mine"? I fish for fun most of the time so I am very open with information and readily share water with others most of the time. I feel like a hundred yards or so is easily breathing room as long as you pull in behind and then follow the direction someone is fishing or even fishing the opposite direction. I know on Squaw in the winter you can cut that down to about 50 yards from what I have seen, if there is a HS tourney make that 25 and the kids are probably jumping in front of you Anyway, just wondering what is a normal comfortable distance? What would you consider ethical? How close gets you riled?

7 nautical miles

250 acres

Take out your best casting rig.
Put on a 1 oz weight with a treble hook.
Cast as far as you cast and measure that distance.
Add a few feet to that distance and you should be safe around these guys....

Depends.

Crowded lake, tourney day and weather conditions all contribute.

I saw a BASS tourney on Livingston after a flood. The whole lake was muddy except one creek and everyone in the top ten was in that creek fishing in close proximity to each other. Rick Clunn waited till the end of the day when everyone else left to catch the winning fish.

All of the water

I go with Allison1 on this.
I've fished a tourney in early spring, on a popular local lake, and there were literally 20 of us in a small pocket off the main lake. You fished until someone left and then you moved forward. Have to be mentally tough in those situations because you can watch the guys 20 yards from you boat a 20lb sack while you are not.... (FTR, that day the top 9 sacks came out of that pocket) No one complained that day, that was just how it is during that time of year.

Other than that, if you see my trailer at the ramp - don't launch, it's my lake!

I tend to get a little more possessive in a tournament or if I catch a good fish or two. I don't think I have ever gotten like some of these guys though, so mad they call the other guys mother a Democrat Thems fighten words!

If I can cast and hit you with any lure within the circumference of my boat, you are too close.

This was funny for two reasons ----
getting more " possessive " during a tourney is the reason I don't fish them . For some reason , the tourney guys seem to think they can be aggressive when encroaching others spot . If a guy comes up to me and politely asks to fish close to me because he's in a tourney --- I always say sure -- I even tell them what has been working for me , if a guy just moves in and gets to close without asking ( 100feet or less ) -- they get the earful and then I make it impossible for them to fish that close .

second --- calling someones mother a democrat is just plain WRONG --- but really funny

This works for me.

The whole dang lake,so all you potlickers go home.

no such thing as "your spot".

some just decide to prove how low class and stupid they can be by crowding people, rarely does it bother me.

for the record, fork is my home lake so that may help explain my attitude.

if I am easing down some rocks for instance and a person can clearly see that I am going in a certain direction , a cast with an RC 2.5 is too close to cut in front of some one and very uncool.

This is kind of what outfishdya said: I'm exclusively a bank fisherman and don't own a boat. Way I figure it is as long as I can cast directly at the other angler and he can cast directly at me and our two lures don't touch then that's fine. In other words, cast as far as you can then double that distance. I often have one or more other fishermen on the other bank of a creek or some yards down a pond bank from me. Doesn't bother me that much as long as their casts don't interfere with mine.