man, I have fought demons of my own and I hate hearing of someone who loses the battle to that stuff. All of the commentary here and on FB just goes to show that addiction has no boundaries and good people can have bad problems. RIP

RIPKS

Sad news in deed, I was a little shocked but not suprised when parker hit me up................Me and BK and Justin had some seriously great times together way back in the day, like 14, 15 years ago......he basically moved in with BK and I for a while when his folks were upset with some of his choices and we fished liked mad men, partied harder worked hard, well me and BK did , Justin just could never stop the partying and I think eventually it catches up to which it finally did with him and its so sad because deep down he tried hard to fight the demons off.......I cant count how many awesome trips the 3 of us had together but it was a ton and Justin always loved fishing and I think if he would have reached out to us, his fishing family we could have saved him................but I guess we all should pray that he is fishing a stretch on the Sauk with no nets and an abundance of late returning wild steelhead and the first of the spring kings and that he is hooking up on every cast not knowing what it is until he lands it.............RIP Kid Sauk and I will never forget him watching me and Beeks catch a springer on every cast and getting so upset that he threw his GLX and Shimano in the river after one of us offered him a handoff ! No handoffs in Heaven Kid..................Its all you Baby ! Peace be with you...........Fly

Sad to hear about Justin but not unexpected. Not many can turn around from the brink and climb out . Last I saw Justin was to fish the beach down by his place at Richmond Beach, he was pretty sketchy that day. I would say that Justin finally has peace.

That sucks to hear. Never knew him but he was one of the original cast of pp members that you made you feel like you did. Difficult time for all that knew him but atleast now he gets to start over.

I hope the fish are plentiful Kid Sauk! I met Justin once in Swains parking lot years ago. He gave me a blank Silver Horde J-plug that was good for hiding.......stuff; I still have it.

Tight lines.

RIP Justin. He was a lot of fun to fish around back when we could fish the Sauk in April.....

The boat.


Home water.


My favorite phrase that he used was "jesus (whoever) your place looks like a [Bleeeeep!] reservation."

I've got a picture of him cutting the lock on "his" gate up on the Sauk where he looks like


I had not spoken with Justin in about five years. I thought of him pretty often and the thought usually made me smile.

Justin was always in such a good mood when I saw him on the river and I almost would bet that I would see him in the same hole everytime I floated the Sauk. I would come around the same corner near the reservation where I hoped to have a shot at that hole and normally he would be in there and always reported a fish or 2. Great guy who offered me trips after my first conversation with him at a local fish meeting for some club he used to be in over in Bothell. He never had an issue with comparing notes with guys he knew. RIP buddy!

Sounds like a real well liked guy.
I'm very sorry about the loss for all here.

Did people know how bad of trouble he was in?
I'm sure many feel quilt for not intervening but could someone have?

How can we all help future people?

Again I'm deeply saddened by your loss.
I wish I could have known him and helped.

His real friends offered help. His druggy friends helped in a different way.

He had lots of us as a support group...but you can't make it happen without them wanting it, and that never really happened.

Fish on...

Todd

I'm not implying those here didn't try to help.

I'm simply trying to understand in an attempt to educate myself in preparation to help if I'm ever in a position too.

We all need to be up to speed on this because sometimes the window to help is very small.

Sad deal. My condolences to those who knew him. I couldn't agree more with the statement that an addict has no hope for recovery before he finds the will. And the line dividing a life worth saving and a life bound for a tragic end is razor thin.

I remember that day at the beach, Dave!

Wow! Shocking, well, sort of. I don't think I ever met Justin in person, but we swapped a lot of emails about Sauk River stuff after our PP acquaintance. So sorry this happened. RIP Kid, . . . Kid Sauk!

Same here...sad news

I just received this email from one of Justin's high school friends...

************

Some of Justin's friends from high school are getting together tomorrow Saturday 5pm at the Cabin tavern Richmond beach 1 block from his house. Tried to post on PP but need to be approved first. Please post if you can.
sanjay
206-683-6787

***********

I hope to make it, but I have a full day planned out of town with family tomorrow so I'm not sure how it will work out.

Fish on...

Todd

Went to Richmond Beach tonight to have a toast to the Kid, guess I missed his high school crew as I had to leave for my own kid commits but felt his passing warranted a visit and post at my old stomping grounds on PP...

Dave was the man that introduced me to the Kid and him posting that King Pic requires a story at the very least...One of the all-time great beach fishing stories IMHO...
Use to spend many hours during great July and August Evening High tides watching the Kid double haul clousers into the Richmond beach surf...(i really wasnt great at it and enjoyed drinking a cold Alaskan Amber watching a beach master do his thing) often resulting in hooking ocean silvers and the occasional cuttie...wasnt there this particular night but as Justin told it he had thrown as far as he could throw and hit a BIG Hot Silver that just decided to leap, twirl and run his way back to Sekiu. Well as the fish got about 100yards off the beach he threw the hook, "well lets strip this thing in and try again" he says to himself...WHAM! a 20ish pound king hammers his fly that was drug out into a zone that was impossible to reach, only way was a free ride from a chromeey silver...20 or so people on the beach watched an epic battle that night and Justin land that hot ass King on the fly.

We all fight our Demons, Im fighting my own version as I type. Im going to choose to remember the good... I only knew you for a few years Kid but what I always admired about you was how easy it was to bond over some deep love for the Sauk and its majestic quarry along with being able to get excited about the little things like a dry fly rise from a 10 inch sea run cuttie on a fly you just tied at your house an hour before...

May your spirit be filled with mid April, big boulder slicks and bigger wild winters on the Upper Sauk...RIP

Thanks everyone who showed up to Justin's house and the cabin