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