Filter search results page?

In order to accurately determine when the search page is being displayed the query must be run first. Since plugin organizer runs before wordpress is loaded, the is_search function to check it will always return false. I can check the query var “s” but it seems like a hacked way to do it. Though inside of query.php the wordpress code is just checking the query var and if it is set then is_search is set to true. I could set up a page for search results if this will always tell me if a search is being performed. I’m just not 100% sure that it will.