alwaysfishking wrote:

Question: Was I right in doing what I did? Or should I have trolled to a
different location considering I wasn't in a Tournament.

I've given up 'serious' tournament fishing, but have 35 years of
experience at it that includes every level from club tourneys to the
BASS Invitationals, and have a couple thoughts on this issue.

An awful lot of tournament anglers -- I'd even go so far as to say it's
a majority of them -- seem to think that being in a tournament gives
them some extra rights on the water over the recreational angler. The
more 'casual' that angler appears to be, the more they act as if it's
their God given right to ignore his presence. Personally, I've always
felt the opposite. The tourney angler should give the recreational
angler the right of way, so to speak.

Truth be told though, I've had recreational anglers as well as tourney
anglers do this to me. It's not acceptable behavior no matter who is
doing it.

By leapfrogging him and cutting him off, you kind of stooped to his
level. By catching a fish in front of him, you could have torqued him
off to dangerous levels. Like the several other of the old timers here,
I'd be more inclined these days to avoid confrontation. But I'd have
tried my damndest to catch one BEHIND him, then remarked to no-one in
particular that guys who can't catch 'em in the first place probably
shouldn't be in tourneys.

I also thought Ronnie's suggestion was quite good. Kind of like the one
I used in a "situation" with a property owner who had set out "private
swimming area" buoys in front of his house. I was fishing down the bank
when he came out and started yelling at me for fishing in a "marked
swimming area". It's illegal in CT to put out any kind of buoy without a
permit from the state. Of course none of these yahoos actually have
permits. So I got out my camera and took a couple pictures of the buoys,
and told him that the permit # is supposed to be prominently displayed
on them (which I kind of made up on the spot. Not sure that the actual
reg says about that), and asked him for the permit number. He threatened
to call the marine patrol, and I said, "Good, it'll save me the
trouble." He went back inside, then came out on his deck with a cell
phone in his hand, and stood there for a few minutes. Never made a call.
Just went back inside eventually.