Fishinfool,

I don't envy you the position you were put into. As often happens, the good guy (you) ends up taking it in the shorts because of all the other "sportsmen" out there have no sense of ettiquette. It's almost a "damned if you do, damned if you don't" situation when that many people are crowded into an area.

If I were in your shoes, I probably would have kept my original position in the hole and let the other boat worry about untangling their fish. You would not be wrong to do this considering the loss of good water and the unlikelyhood of gaining an equally good hole downriver if you were to move (which you did). When the remainder of the day's success is at stake it is not your problem.

Not being there, it's hard to visualize how tight quarters were but I don't know that I would have anchored 20 ft. below another group. When fish are hooked and are unpredictable, that's too tight a quarters and is a situation ripe for disaster. Maybe you had no other choice and I understand you were being VERY concientious about not stirring up the waters but that is just too close to anchor below someone.....probably should have reluctantly moved on or breathed deep, go home and come back swinging the next day with a new understanding of what to expect.

I do admire your effort to be concientious of others. There's alot of guys out there that could use some reminding of what the sport's really about.

Good luck.