First off, there are two factors that make a boat search "legal" in Washington, one being the above-mentioned RCW, and the other being the little waiver of rights that we all sign on the bottom of our licenses (at least we used to, can't remember if it's still there).

That said, just because the state law says it's ok does not make it constitutional. Luckily, the standards for making a search under the state law and under federal and state constitutional law are pretty well spelled out in case law, and it's a pretty simple concept.

1. If you are standing near the river with a rod in your hand, those are "articulable" facts that you are fishing. Probably good enough if someone else told the gamie that you were fishing, too.

2. If you are fishing, they can ask to see your licenses and gear to see if you are in compliance.
This does include your boat, and could include your rig if there are articulable facts showing that your gear/equipment/game may have been stowed already.

Say you are steelhead fishing in a selective gear rules area, single, barbless, no bait, open for brats, closed for nates. You're out in your boat with a couple of buddies, pulled up on a bar, and the gamie shows up. You're fishing, so out comes the license. Also, let's see the hooks on your rods, make sure there're no barbs there. When they see your licenses, they see that one of you has punched a hatchery fish for the day. Pull it out, check for clipped fin.

That's probably it.

Unless, say, there's blood on your boat, and no punches on the punchcards. Or a fisherman upstream told them that you guys boated and kept a fish, and now he sees no punches. Time to search the boat.

What are they searching for? Either an illegally harvested wild fish, or an unreported hatchery fish. Where can they search? Wherever such a fish could be. That means under the seats, in the cooler, in the gear locker.

It does not mean in your vest pocket, or in your tacklebox, or in the little film canister that may or may not have film in it sitting in the tackle tray. The potential illegal fish could not be in those places, so there is no legal reason to search them.

All in all, it's a pretty lax standard, and it makes sense intuitively. As noted above, we should definitely welcome the intrusion, hoping that a few other folks are getting intruded upon, too. Too few game wardens out on patrol is a major problem for the fish and game of this state. If you've got nothing to hide, then what's the problem?

Last, but definitely not least, who spends a lot of time taking to fishermen almost every day? The game warden. Who's a good source of accurate and current information on what and where they're hitting? The game warden. Who's going to get that information, the jerk or the nice guy?

Fish on...

Todd.