# Check Station at Strawberry



## Fowlmouth (Oct 4, 2008)

Anybody else get stopped at the check station they had set up by the Visitor Center last Saturday? I have never seen Forest Service law enforcement before that day. They were checking drivers licenses, vehicle/boat registration, fishing licenses and fish caught. There were a dozen or so officers working and I'm sure they wrote plenty of citations. I guess they are Feds and can pretty much check for whatever they want.


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## Fishrmn (Sep 14, 2007)

Except your immigration status. :roll: :lol:


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## Fowlmouth (Oct 4, 2008)

Fishrmn said:


> Except your immigration status. :roll: :lol:


True Dat!


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## phantom (Sep 13, 2007)

The station has been up at least twice this year. I also got checked fishing in my boat this year.


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## kochanut (Jan 10, 2010)

Fishrmn said:


> Except your immigration status. :roll: :lol:


i laughed!

we were checked last year and it took for freaking ever also. turns out the reason it took so long is they nailed some guy and three of his buddies with a livewell stuffed full of cuttys and only one made it under the slot. the ranger guy told us they would be fined per fish! :shock:


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## luv2fsh&hnt (Sep 22, 2007)

I have a question,Strawberry is a USFS resource so the federal officers have jurisdiction over activities within the boudaries. It is however my understanding the slot limit,the planting of fish,and other management aspects of the fishery are set and managed by the state of Utah and the UDWR. With that being the case do the federal officers have jurisdiction to enforce laws that are essentially state laws? Maybe there is some reciprocal agreement between the agencies. Considering the current administration is opposed to states enforcing federal laws wouldn't it also be wrong for federal officials to enforce state laws.


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## DallanC (Jan 13, 2009)

I was there and got stopped. Man there were ALOT of personal there, I couldnt believe how many officers they had. Most of them were younger kids so I think it might have been a training thing as well.

Anyway, it was a pleasant experience. Everyone was friendly, they quickly checked out our mess of Kokanee, asked alot of questions about what we used (hahaha), checked fishing licenses then waved us on our merry way. I doubt we were stopped for more than 6-7 minutes. They never checked my boat, never checked boat reg or driver license info. I was friendly to them and they were friendly right back. I told them I hope they do more checks in the future.

Oh and as we were leaving I also asked how many tickets they gave out. He said "compliance has been really good so far" which I took to mean almost everyone checked up until then was within the law.


-DallanC


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## Chaser (Sep 28, 2007)

Besides the inconvenience, its about damned time they enforce some laws up there! They really should set up another post over on the Soldier Creek arm, and at the Ladders as well.


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## deadicated1 (Mar 17, 2008)

i think its great that they do it. i am happy to wait a few extra minutes once in a while, and the two times it has happened to me, it has been a pleasant experience. i know they cant catch everyone who breaks the laws up there, but efforts like this have got to help people learn the regs, and laws, and hopefully obey them more often.
however, every time i have ever been checked on the water, or while pulling the boat out, the attitude of the officer was totally opposite of the guys at the check station. one time i may have provoked it a little, but the others, they were power tripping right from the start. :? 
i understand they have to be a little more aggressive while checking on the water, to "catch someone in the act" but some of their methods are a little much,... ie... they full on rammed into our boat before they even identified themselves, no registration on their boat and not in the mood to joke about it, etc
long story short, i dont mind the check stations one bit


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## LOAH (Sep 29, 2007)

I don't mind as long as I've been fishing but if I haven't, and I've been detained (checked) with no probable cause, that's not okay and I have a major issue with that.

It is good to see an effort being made, although I would hope that they're only checking people that have obviously been fishing.


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## Fowlmouth (Oct 4, 2008)

LOAH said:


> I don't mind as long as I've been fishing but if I haven't, and I've been detained (checked) with no probable cause, that's not okay and I have a major issue with that.
> 
> It is good to see an effort being made, although I would hope that they're only checking people that have obviously been fishing.


LOAH, I agree completely with being checked with no probable cause. We were stopped at the check station, my buddy left his license home, long story short $125 ticket and the cops never saw us fish or not. Don't get me wrong, I am glad these officers are checking people out, but they need to do it the right way. My buddy will get a court date and show the judge he did have a license and hopefully that will be good enough. (I know you are required to have it with you) but the cops should be required to see you actually fishing before writing tickets. If they are going to write tickets for people they didn't see fishing, I guess they can write speeding tickets on the assumption you were speeding because you were driving a vehicle. :?


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## LOAH (Sep 29, 2007)

Yeah, that sounds a little strange if they're writing tickets for something that hasn't been witnessed by a LEO...Unless your buddy fessed up to it, of course.

Good luck to your friend with that ticket. I'm not sure they'll let people plead their case over fishing w/o a license. They never let me when I got one about 7 years ago, but I had forgotten about it and let it go to a warrant.  Maybe it's different when you take care of it right away.

(For the record, I had my license in my wallet a couple of days before the ticket when a U.C. Sheriff's Deputy was searching through it. Perhaps it "slipped" out while he was digging. :roll: I was a common target back then.)


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## deadicated1 (Mar 17, 2008)

what exactly was he digging for in your wallet, loah???  
fowlmouth- that story about a ticket on the way in is ridiculous! for all they know, you could have been dropping him off at camp and he never even stepped foot on the boat or held a rod :roll: pretty lame!! i agree with loah about getting checked after the trip, not before, without reasonable cause.


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## Grandpa D (Sep 7, 2007)

The Officers are there to check on anyone that they think are fishing.
I don't mind them checking me.
During the Deer hunt, they team up with County and State Officers for the road blocks.
They check for drivers licenses and other things which makes the road block legal.

One day I was at Jordanelle ice fishing. I asked a buddy to come with me. He didn't want to ice fish and didn't have a license.
He just walked around looking at the sights and enjoyed being out of the inversion that was down in the valley.
When we came back to shore, 2 CO's approached us and asked for our licenses.
I showed mine and my friend told them that he wasn't fishing.
They tried to get him to admit that he was and asked why I had 4 poles with me, if I was the only one fishing.
I explained that I always have 4 poles set up and ready to use.
They even said that they saw him fishing, which was a lie, because he never did fish.
They finally left us and moved on to some other folks.
I know that they were just doing their job but it was a little uncomfortable when they tried to get us to confess to something that we were not doing.

Looking back now, it did look like we were set up for both of us to be fishing.
Besides that, how many people spend the day one the ice and not fish.

I still like to see the DWR out and keeping an eye on things.


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## k2muskie (Oct 6, 2007)

I sincerely wish they'd check more folks before they fish for 1) illegal use of drugs/alcohol, 2) equipment 3) licence and 4) their potential take at the end of fish'n. 

The COs are just doing their job (we've been approached by several...never an issue)...yea some can be probably butt heads but I'm sure they have a few butt head public folks they also must deal with. So I don't blame them for getting a little nervey or irked...as dealing with the public can and usually is a very ungrateful job as they have to deal with some folks who are just knot-heads and will give anyone a hard time as I see it.


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