Interesting points. It got me thinking (oh boy, here we go again). There's a lot of things a person
could do. And a lot of rules have been argued, debated, and written over what
could happen in many tournament organizations and tournament-focused clubs. In fact, many clubs have fallen apart and dissolved over such debates and rules.
Personally, I feel if it isn't a problem in our club, then there's no need to enact a rule on the basis of "just in case". Paranoia tends to breed illogical behavior and interferes with club commroderie. The only time I feel we should create such rules is when it's a real problem.
For instance, we once had a club member bring a guide on his boat as the backseater during a tournament. It was an out-of-town relative, but not a member. There was no rule prohibiting it, so he won. As a result, we now have a rule stating all participants in a club tournament must be members. We've never had a problem since.
As for the tactics Larry has brought up, I don't think we're that competitive that these things will happen. At the Roosevelt tournament last year, I did have one club member move right on top of the spot I was fishing without asking me first (we were so close, I could've pitched my lure into his boat). Now I could've said something as he was pulling up, but since I was only catching dinks, I decided to let it go and see if he could pull any keepers, rather than get upset. At least then I would know that either A) I would then know what I'm doing wrong or B) it would confirm I needed to move on. In essence, instead of feeling infringed upon, I seized the opportunity to speed up my fishing. Turned out, I needed to move on - we both did!
At the Columbia tournament, I had the exact scenario Larry mentioned play out. A pre-fisher for an upcoming tournament pulled up literally 10 yrds in front of me along a stretch of bank I was fishing. I *ahem* let the guy know I wasn't pleased about his rudeness, but all he did was move up another 5 yards. Well, he and his buddy managed to catch a few dinks, but Keri and I were roping in the fish. After about 7 keepers and a dozen or so dinks, he got frustrated watching us catch fish behind him and left!