I was at the launch cleaning a couple of fish last year while two fishing partners were by my boat in the parking lot. When I came up the game warden asked to see my license and checked my fish out. She was a little stiff at first but turned out relatively pleasant. After she had left my partners tell me she walked up and climbed right into the boat and started searching.... I didn't mind the search so much as the fact she didn't ask, or that I (the owner) was not present.

But as stated in the above posts they deal with a lot of rude people all day long and I don't envy their jobs. I agree that they should have more power than what they have. Gamies are few and far between it seems, I have read a lot of posts on this and other boards of members seeing illegal activities going on on the water. They can search my boat any time, but I would sure like to see some of the more blatant "breaking of the rules" (snagging for one)get hit fast and hard once and a while.

I did put a poll up on boat searches on this and one other board, came up with about half saying yes they can with out asking or cause, and half saying no they can't without cause. I e-mailed the WDFW and got no response. But like I said, they have enough problems to deal with without me hassling them. Good luck.

Doubletake