You are fishing a big tournament. You get a couple of bites on a 300 yard stretch and shake one off in practice. You fish your better stuff on day one and it does not pan out. Your game plan for day two is to fish that stretch you found in practice. You tell a friend and he say's "That's the same stretch that the guy in 3rd place is fishing". You had no idea prior to making your decision but it "Was" part of your game plan and definitely something you found in your expensive long days of practice. Its all about winning and money is on the line. Do you yield or do you put on your blinders and fish what you found?

Talk to your competitor that is fishing the particular spot before the next day and ask if he would mind sharing water and explain you found fish there in practice. It would be totally his call, if he says no then respect his wishes and just go fishing and try and find something similar, since you should already have somewhat of a pattern off that area.

I personally wouldn't even ask or intrude on him, I would call it my bad and all on me for not going there day 1.

I fish where I practiced, no matter what. Practice like you play. I fish tournaments to win.
On day 2, if he were in contention to win and I had no chance- I would skip that spot and keep running to the next.

Just pull in and tie up to his boat. Seems to work on Martin Creek this year. Lol

But I usually will wait till he left or got farther down and started at opposite end.

We found some good fish in a small pocket and started catching them during tournament. Never saw another boat for weeks in that spot. Had 2 try come in on us and we asked them not to since we had been only boat all day there. They had no problem with it and fished on past it. Ended up winning good money off it

It would have been in my rotation on Day #1....that way it would be justifiable for me being there again on Day #2.

You said 300 yard stretch.... That's huge...

Fish the spot. You play to win. There's nothing underhanded about fishing a spot that you found fish on. And your competitor should understand that. It's a competition for christ sake.

You found it. You fish it. You may be fishing a different pattern than the other guy

I seem to remember a situation that came up similar to this one between Dean Rojas and Alton Jones. There is a lot to be said for sportsmanship. Understanding that money is on the line and expenses mounting up, is it worth a rumor or argument that could hurt your good name? Maybe the spots you thought were better will pan out on day 2.

i would fish it. It s not his fish and as long as you dont cut him off or get within the distance between boats allowed for that tournament you have done nothing wrong. You found those fish just like he did.

Should have fished it day one. Now the other guy has your fish.

As long as you fish within the tournament rules, it is just as much your water as his. If you are in a flight ahead of his, I certainly don't see it as an issue. If he gets there first and is not anchored, you just give him the courtesy provided in the tournament rules.

300 yds. ...... I think I would try to fish it ..

Just to give a little clarity, the 300 yards was all there was and it was not enough for two boats for two days. It was Amistad an the A-Rig was basically the only way to catch them. The only reason it was not in my day one rotation is that it was a pretty good run. The situation was very similar to the Rojas/Jones deal. I would have never thought twice about fishing it if he was not a contender. I was really more curious as to where you draw the line on sportsmanship v. stupidity on my part.

300 yards is always enough to have two boats fish. Sure you may fish it out if thats the only spot you fish, but two boats can fish a 300 yard stretch easily. My only rule in a tournament is I dont pull in on top of someone. I stay 75 yards at least to any other boat I see when I pull in and start fishing. Now, I may fish up to them, move around them or whatever while fishing, it just depends on what they are doing and what I am doing. I dont ever fish where I can cast into their boat. I also think it is dumb to yeild water to a guy that is ahead of you in the standings, how do you expect to move up if you dont fish the fish YOU have found. Tournaments are not about saying oh that guy had a better day than me yesterday I fold he can have my spot. Its about saying I didnt do too good today, but I know I can catch them tomorrow and come back and make a good showing.