High Sierra Topix

From the CDFW news feed at http://cdfgnews.wordpress.com/2014/04/2 ... ckpoint-2/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

APRIL 21, 2014

Media Contacts:
Lt. Bill Dailey, CDFW Law Enforcement, (760) 872-7360
Andrew Hughan, CDFW Communications, (916) 322-8944

The California Department of Fish and Wildlife (CDFW) will be conducting a wildlife checkpoint operation in late April to promote safety, education and compliance with law and regulations.
CDFW law enforcement division will be conducting the inspection on southbound Hwy 395, south of Bishop on Monday, April 28, 2014 from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m.

The wildlife checkpoint is being conducted to protect and conserve fish and wildlife, and to encourage safety and sportsmanship by promoting voluntary compliance with laws, rules and regulations through education, preventative patrol and enforcement.

All anglers and hunters will be required to stop and submit to an inspection. CDFW officers will also be providing informative literature about the invasive quagga mussel and New Zealand Mudsnail.

Wonder if these guys could sneak through........

That creature is about the size of the last two Rainbow trout that Mark said he caught

On the serious side, the wardens will be out in force checking your coolers as you cruise back from the trout opener back to LA.

It's much like the checkpoints they set up here on the North Left coast to check all vehicles that might have abalone divers in them.

Hopefully everyone will have read the regs and keep it clean.

I have to say I am very much against it. I find it highly offensive to be stopped on the highway and forced to submit to an illegal search under the 4th amendment.

it's in the regs. It's all ok if you play by the rules. I expect everyone to play by the rules. It's those that don't that hurt everyone else.

Rlown wrote:
I expect everyone to play by the rules.

Obviously they don't, if they did, there would be no need for these checkpoints.

This is an area I'm torn, while 98% are doing things right I see guys come up here and take 100 trout per person. Destroying an area for all the real fisherman. They can catch those guys all day long, well any poacher for that matter. It just not fair to the thousands of good guy who follow the law.

It still does not make searches legal. Check points have been ruled legal by the courts but your only required to stop and nothing more. You certainly do not have to answer any questions and unless like any typical day an officer has some sort of probable cause they cannot just search your ice chest to see if your hiding anything. Of course I am not under any delusion that the rule of law actually applies in this country and that we are actually free.

I know people are out there not following regulations and hurting fish populations but that is no excuse to suspend the constitution and hassle people. There has to be another way to simply enforce the law. If you cannot then oh well. The fishing will just suck for all parties.

Just remember the only two things you need to say at a checkpoint "am I free to go?" If no then "am I being detained?". It's actually quite comical to me to watch youtube videos that can drag on for 30 minutes of just am I free to go? no. Then am I being detained? no. Then am I free to go?.

How ever you want to play it. No skin off my back. The fish and mussel dogs will be on hand.

If you have the right number of fish in your cooler, why is it a problem to spend the 4 mins to show them? All planters anyway, but that's a different topic.

The shark would be hard to explain near Bishop.

Oh I agree on that, Rouge, but since 9/11 our over all rights have been quietly legislated away. I'm not for any searching like this, but also understand why they happen. Unfortunately we are all accountable for the sins of a few.