For the legal eagles - what is "possession"?

Don’t answer questions.  Produce your catch on demand.  Want to search my car when I’m no where near it out on the water?  Get a warrant.  Want to search my freezer at home?  Get a warrant.

Pretty sure any reasonable judicial officer will not consider what is in your cooler in the vehicle in your “possession” for purposes of the fishing gear restrictions,  and I don’t know that a warden wouldn’t get an ass chewing for issuing a petty ticket like that, but if you don’t answer questions you probably won’t have to deal with it.  This is only for possession for purposes of gear restrictions.  It’s a broader definition for daily and possession limits.  Still don’t answer questions, don’t consent to search, and if demanding to see at camp or home, tell em to get a warrant.

Game wardens can search your vehicle without a warrant.

They have to have a reasonable suspicion that you are actively engaged if fishing.  They are going to have to see you loading gear or fish and know which vehicle is yours.  They can’t just stop anyone they want to and search without a reasonable suspicion of fishing or hunting.

I believe the intent of the law should be taken into account when trying to decipher its meaning. Isn’t it intended to prevent you from fishing for Rockfish etc with more than two hooks and simply claiming you caught them using a legal setup and changed to using 8 hooks after you stopped fishing for the species in question. If you’re in your kayak with the rockfish in your possession there is no way to prove if you were using legal gear so they outlaw using illegal gear while the fish are with you. If the fish are back in camp it’s reasonable to claim you weren’t using 8 hooks when you caught them. Also keep in mind that there are possession limits and fish in your freezer legally count as part of your possession limits and might reasonably be called in your possession. The totality suggests to me that the intent of the law is to keep you from catching rockfish using 8 hooks and claiming you were using 2 if inspected.

I asked AI and got this answer for what it’s worth.

Exactly. “What are you fishing for” is a trap question. 

Yesssssss!!  Along with "Did you see any whales when you were out today?"

Don’t answer questions.  Produce your catch on demand.  Want to search my car when I’m no where near it out on the water?  Get a warrant.  Want to search my freezer at home?  Get a warrant.

Pretty sure any reasonable judicial officer will not consider what is in your cooler in the vehicle in your “possession” for purposes of the fishing gear restrictions,  and I don’t know that a warden wouldn’t get an ass chewing for issuing a petty ticket like that, but if you don’t answer questions you probably won’t have to deal with it.  This is only for possession for purposes of gear restrictions.  It’s a broader definition for daily and possession limits.  Still don’t answer questions, don’t consent to search, and if demanding to see at camp or home, tell em to get a warrant.

Game wardens can search your vehicle without a warrant.

They have to have a reasonable suspicion that you are actively engaged if fishing.  They are going to have to see you loading gear or fish and know which vehicle is yours.  They can’t just stop anyone they want to and search without a reasonable suspicion of fishing or hunting.

Back in the day when I dove for Abalone in ShelterCove, on the way back home, they randomly stop vehicles at their surprise check point and check the license and coolers.  So is this illegal?

Don’t answer questions.  Produce your catch on demand.  Want to search my car when I’m no where near it out on the water?  Get a warrant.  Want to search my freezer at home?  Get a warrant.

Pretty sure any reasonable judicial officer will not consider what is in your cooler in the vehicle in your “possession” for purposes of the fishing gear restrictions,  and I don’t know that a warden wouldn’t get an ass chewing for issuing a petty ticket like that, but if you don’t answer questions you probably won’t have to deal with it.  This is only for possession for purposes of gear restrictions.  It’s a broader definition for daily and possession limits.  Still don’t answer questions, don’t consent to search, and if demanding to see at camp or home, tell em to get a warrant.

Game wardens can search your vehicle without a warrant.

They have to have a reasonable suspicion that you are actively engaged if fishing.  They are going to have to see you loading gear or fish and know which vehicle is yours.  They can’t just stop anyone they want to and search without a reasonable suspicion of fishing or hunting.

Back in the day when I dove for Abalone in ShelterCove, on the way back home, they randomly stop vehicles at their surprise check point and check the license and coolers.  So is this illegal?

If you have a visible cooler and wetsuit and aren’t carrying a surfboard, yes it’s fine.  Reasonable suspicion you are engaged in highly regulated activity

I think that as long as we're certain we're not doing anything illegal, I don't see any reason to give the warden a hard time by not answering simple questions.  This just reminds me of all the idiots filming police officers while they're being a total ass the entire time.  They're just doing their job asking us questions, whether its a trap for other idiots or not, they're just doing their job.  Cooperation just makes the process easier, unless you have something to hide. 

In the past, you can have up to 2 days limit of salmon in your cooler.  Lets say Day 1, you get your limit, come back on shore and dump the 2 fish off.  Technically, based on the original question, it would seem that putting the 2 salmon away in your car/cooler would mean you're not in possession of them so you'd be able to go out and ignore any regs since you're not in actual possession of the salmon? 

Don’t answer questions.  Produce your catch on demand.  Want to search my car when I’m no where near it out on the water?  Get a warrant.  Want to search my freezer at home?  Get a warrant.

Pretty sure any reasonable judicial officer will not consider what is in your cooler in the vehicle in your “possession” for purposes of the fishing gear restrictions,  and I don’t know that a warden wouldn’t get an ass chewing for issuing a petty ticket like that, but if you don’t answer questions you probably won’t have to deal with it.  This is only for possession for purposes of gear restrictions.  It’s a broader definition for daily and possession limits.  Still don’t answer questions, don’t consent to search, and if demanding to see at camp or home, tell em to get a warrant.

Jump to 7:20 mins: 

On a lighter note, this movie contains the best game warden scene ever filmed. If you enjoy the outdoors and comedy, it’s free on YouTube. “Anything free is worth saving up for.” 

https://youtu.be/r7x6IsFMpOs?si=E8kosYFe46zv56pv

Jump to 7:20 mins: 

That boat always would come directly for me every time I saw it on the water  They never actually had me open all my hatches though, just checked my license and asked if I had caught anything.

Jump to 7:20 mins: 

That boat always would come directly for me every time I saw it on the water  They never actually had me open all my hatches though, just checked my license and asked if I had caught anything.

Opening of the hatch is a special thing for us asians only.  You don't want none of this Al.

Don’t answer questions.  Produce your catch on demand.  Want to search my car when I’m no where near it out on the water?  Get a warrant.  Want to search my freezer at home?  Get a warrant.

Pretty sure any reasonable judicial officer will not consider what is in your cooler in the vehicle in your “possession” for purposes of the fishing gear restrictions,  and I don’t know that a warden wouldn’t get an ass chewing for issuing a petty ticket like that, but if you don’t answer questions you probably won’t have to deal with it.  This is only for possession for purposes of gear restrictions.  It’s a broader definition for daily and possession limits.  Still don’t answer questions, don’t consent to search, and if demanding to see at camp or home, tell em to get a warrant.

Jump to 7:20 mins: 

Yes, they can search your boat and don’t need consent or a warrant.  That doesn’t change anything I said above.

I wouldn’t worry about even a little bit. You followed the law.  Sure you have rockfish in possession in your car, but you’re not in your car when you went back on the water.  If they check you when you get back to your car, you still be fine cause it’s not illegal to have sanddabs and rockfish in possession at the same time.  Heck, I used to catch and keep petrale sole when it was grouped with groundfish which meant at the time that it had to be caught in less than 120ft which is rare to find petrale sole anyways.  Game warden even said it was a law that needed to be changed.  I never was harassed for it and I broke that rule many times.  Some laws are just pointless.