Encounter with a Fish and Wildlife Officer

What are the requirements to answer questions from wardens?  If I decide I don't want to engage in a conversation with them, do I have that right? 

I do a lot of off road dirt bike riding and am stopped regularly for noise and registration checks.  They ask me all sorts of stupid questions, like; is this bike currently registered, when the sticker is right in front of their eyes.  I just take off my helmet, put on my sunglasses and keep my mouth shut.  Before long, they leave. 

Questions like; where you been riding?  Has the bike in your truck been unloaded and ridden here today?  I'm not saying.  I just sit there.
As near as I can tell, anything can and will be used against me, so why would I want to give them any reason to write me up?

If had been doing something illegal, and they had me on it already, they wouldn't be asking me questions.   

But back to fishing; my gear and my catch speak for me and I do not choose to engage in conversation with a stranger. 

You do not have to talk to them.  You do have to produce a license and produce all sport caught fish upon demand.  They also have broad warrantless search rights.  But you don't have t answer questions.  Just produce catch and allow search.

Crash,
Can you point me towards any section of the regulations that backs this up?  I think this is good advice - especially since wardens/cops will always try to get you to incriminate yourself.  I just don't want to get hauled in or ticketed for not cooperating.

I did a cruise on the delta this morning and while I didn't meet with any wardens, I had a conversation with a coast guard boat. After I shut my engine off and walked to the cockpit, I asked for the front gunner to please not train her .50 cal at me.    The back gunner gave out a good laugh. They were escorting a tanker out from the port of stockton and I was supposed to give 500 yards clearance. The river isn't that wide and I had already pulled in to a cut to stay out of the wake!

What are the requirements to answer questions from wardens?  If I decide I don't want to engage in a conversation with them, do I have that right? 

I do a lot of off road dirt bike riding and am stopped regularly for noise and registration checks.  They ask me all sorts of stupid questions, like; is this bike currently registered, when the sticker is right in front of their eyes.  I just take off my helmet, put on my sunglasses and keep my mouth shut.  Before long, they leave. 

Questions like; where you been riding?  Has the bike in your truck been unloaded and ridden here today?  I'm not saying.  I just sit there.
As near as I can tell, anything can and will be used against me, so why would I want to give them any reason to write me up?

If had been doing something illegal, and they had me on it already, they wouldn't be asking me questions.   

But back to fishing; my gear and my catch speak for me and I do not choose to engage in conversation with a stranger. 

You do not have to talk to them.  You do have to produce a license and produce all sport caught fish upon demand.  They also have broad warrantless search rights.  But you don't have t answer questions.  Just produce catch and allow search.

Crash,
Can you point me towards any section of the regulations that backs this up?  I think this is good advice - especially since wardens/cops will always try to get you to incriminate yourself.  I just don't want to get hauled in or ticketed for not cooperating.

 The 4th, 5th and 6th amendments of the US Constitution all apply.  The 5th amendment is the one that says you dont have to talk to them.

Why not answer questions.  They don't always ask questions to mix you up.  Maybe they want to see if you are drunk or retarded.  I see no reason to be an asshole just because the constitution says I can.  I don't knowingly break fishing laws but I am sure with so many I can make an honest mistake.  They are more likely to give a warning to polite fisherman who don't spout off I know my rights. 

If you get one that you truly feel is being a jerk or over stepping his authority just ask to speak with their supervisor. 

There are always a jerk  in any groups,organization,that includes public and private.ive delt with cops that didn't give a rats ass where I double park and rent a cops who think they are the secret service guarding the president.my take on it is answer what they are asking,don't give them more than what you have to,be polite so you and them can go your separate ways as soon as you can

There times when I wished one was around.  Here's some occasions: 

A spear fisherman shot a 20 inch ling and cleaning it next to me.  He says he wasn't sure but still shot because there was nothing else around.

A kayak fisherman came in with 2 Canaries.  I told him about it and his face turned white. I don't know what did with the fish.

Then there was a first timer who keep 3 short lings.  The limit back then was only 2. I asked him why he did it.  He said he didn't know the difference between a RF and LC.

All cases of people spending hundreds of dollars on gear without taking 15 minutes to read regulations that can save them hundreds of dollars in fines...imbeciles

You've got the perfect mentality to be a DFW warden!  You should be out there helping to catch these imbeciles.

Now as for myself, I've never claimed to NOT be an imbecile, but I've read the regulations top to bottom and if quizzed, would probably remember a third of it.  This is why I brush up before going out, but my memory still isn't what it used to be.  There are also 20-30 different rockfish species, and there are dozens of threads and hundreds of posts within this very website trying to figure out how to identify rockfish species.  There are laminated cards to bring out on the water specifically because ID'ing rockfish isn't a piece of cake.

I can't speak for the spear fisherman in the example above, but I'd hope for a little leeway in criticizing the second and third guy.  The second guy obviously didn't realize he was running afoul of the regulations, based on his physiological response.  The third guy was a first-timer who also likely didn't know any better.  I would like to think that as community, we could point them in the right direction (e.g. this forum), rather than call them imbeciles.

I apologize if the term imbecile offended you. I simply suggested that it takes a lot of money, effort and research to get into a sport like kayakfishing or spear fishing. If you put the time and money into getting otw, the least you can do is to know the regs and when in doubt, release any questionable fish that you catch. If you fail to do that you are a poacher and poachers bring stricter regs, more intrusion into our fishing experience by DFG, and lower quality fishing. I'm not saying what they did was malicious, but in one way or another it has a negative effect on everyone's fishing experience and can be easily avoided. I'm more than happy to point newbies in the right direction>read the regs