I have a question for you all. This pertains mostly to big bass type tournaments such as the Legends Tournament this weekend at Fork. I actually have ran in to this before and suspect that I may run in to it again this weekend. I am fishing Fork this weekend but won't be in a tournament. The legal fishing time for the tournament is 6:00 a.m. I plan on being on the lake at 5:00 a.m. Suppose that I arrive at one of my spots and there is a boat just sitting there waiting on the tournament start time. Am I to go on or just go ahead and fish. In my opinion, as long as I am not crowding him, I should have the right to fish the spot without irritating him. How would you react if you were in the tournament and this happened to you? Just wondering.

I'm not a tournament angler or even close to a competitive fisherman. I would say to asses the situation. If you believe that the guy may be in a tournament and you are only out for recreational purposes then give way to him. You would only want the same in return. This may give you time to scout new places, try to new lures, etc.. I've used this frase in other topics of discussion but I would consider this a form of "dock blocking" as he has more to gain/lose than you do.

You throw that many people on 27,000 acres you have to expect this to happen. Just try and be the first one there, throw out some buoys and give evil glares.

I'd probably skip Fork this weekend and go on down the road a few miles and fish Holbrook. No crowds and no BS and pretty solid fishing. I may head there tommorrow myself.

being in East Texas.... you may get shot or they may say nothing. haha could go anyway

aint that the truth

I would say it was his hole and give it to him. I wouldnt like someone comming in on me and fishing the spot im sitting on.

Ive got my police line tape ready to go to string across the opening of the cove I plan to fish saturday morning.

Do on to others as you would want done to you.

Just take it with a grain of salt, that happens a lot on fork during tournments. You could always check out other spots. Or better yet, ride around and make a note of where the boats are
on a map or gps it. You might find better spots than you had before

It depends on what you call crowding him and how many boats can really fish the spot. If someone was two casts away from me and I knew there were alot of boats on the water that really would not bother me. Whether he has started fishing or not really is inmaterial. He's on the spot.

The old Golden Rule...always a good option

1+

Be courteous first and dont go Langill on anyone!

I would go to another lake or just fish new areas cause one thing tournaments have proven is that fish can be caught all around the lake. I usually do better by avoiding the usual over crowded overfished spots. Find a section of lake you never been to before and explore it you never know what you might find and if it sucks you can at least eliminate that part in the future.