To those that knew Justin, he passed away. My condolences to Susan. Justin was the younger brother I never had that just couldn't escape his demons and the ugly side of life around him. Justin was a great guy, fun to be around, and one heck of a fisherman.

R.I.P my brother from another mother. You will be missed.

Damn... This just suck's...

I wish ya coulda kicked it buddy!


I never will forget when I would call you would answer...
"Timber.....7 *uckin times"
Or singin I'M KID...KID SAUK as we were floatin down the river..

We had some great times fishin'

R.I.P Kid!

Hearing this today is one of the saddest things I've heard in a long time...a really long time.

Justin was one of my most fun and constant fishing buddies for a while...but life intervened, and not in a good way.

It's sad because Justin was one of the nicest, most generous, and funniest guys you could ever be lucky enough to be around. I've missed him a lot over the last few years, and we talked about him a bit a couple of weeks ago when we were drifting his namesake river...the river where he and I caught a LOT of steelhead and had a LOT of laughs back in the day.

Being a great guy and a great fisherman doesn't insulate you from the all the bad things in this world.

I don't know what else to say.

Fish on...

Todd

$hit - only met him once, but remember him well from the glory days of the fishing board - before there was a dark side...

sorry to hear about your guys friend...


RIP Kid...

Sorry for your loss. I lost my childhood best friend and fishing partner the same way . I lost him in 1975 but he died in 2005.

This makes some sense.

"Each one of us here today will at one time in our lives look upon a loved one who is in need and ask the same question: We are willing to help, Lord, but what, if anything, is needed? For it is true we can seldom help those closest to us. Either we don't know what part of ourselves to give or, more often than not, the part we have to give is not wanted. And so it is those we live with and should know who elude us. But we can still love them - we can love completely without complete understanding."
Norman Maclean, A River Runs Through It and Other Stories

I have no idea how many steelhead we caught the last day we fished together. The date on this picture says April 4th, and considering we were on the Sauk and it was a bluebird day with perfect conditions, I'd wager we caught more than a few.

I do know this for sure...this was the last fish he and I ever caught together up there.



We did a little saltwater fishing together after that last trip...and then things started to sideways and he drifted away from us, his fishing buddies.

For all I know that may be the last Sauk River steelhead he ever caught.

Fish on...

Todd

Unfortunately, Kid Sauk missed and hit the steelhead instead of Toff.

Holy cow...how long ago was that?

Neoprene waders...brrrr.

All I remember was that it was colder'n'ell that day and that little banana was the only steelhead we caught.

Skykomish River, December...2003? 2004?

Fish on...

Todd

He should of stuck with his fishing buddies. Never got to fish with him but did enjoy working with him for awhile then he just disappeared. Trouble seemed to be fond of him.

RIP Kid Sauk..............I met him on the nooch back in oh somewhere between 99-01. It was 10:00 am and my boat was limited..........he and a buddy of his was struggling a bit.............I threw him a container of egg's and said good luck.............He and his buddy limited on those egg's a few hours later in the day.................He was very appreciative from that day forward every time I'd run into him. Seemed like a great guy but never really got to know him only in passing on the river. Good luck,

SZ

Wow, I'm blown away! Just drove by his place the other day near Richmond Beach. Last time I fished with the Kid was when he, Parker and I went down and caught a few fish from the beach.
Sad, sad news....rest in peace Justin...

K2

Damn....

Very sad news

RIP Kid, nice pic of the pyramid run of old there Parker, that hole runs is river left now

Terrible.

RIP, Kid.

Really sad to hear.

I remember the first time I met Justin on the Sauk. He was floating by with Toff and they cut off a couple dudes pulling plugs to row over and bum some Tecates off of us. I was stoked to see his tackle bag - literally a plastic 7-11 bag containing random Okies and spoons all jumbled together. Perfect.

RIP, hopefully in the braids of the Mill Drift.

Sad news for sure! I didn't know him all that well, but he always had a smile, wave and a good word when I'd see him on the Snohomish or Sauk.

RIP Justin.

LOL

That was the same day as the picture above of Justin with the steelhead.

The 7-11 bag with six leaders, a sack of Okies, and four spoons tangled up in a ball of yarn is the Truth...he didn't even have any swivels or weights that day, he had to use some of mine.

His tackle bag got smaller and more jumbled as the years went on, that's for sure.

I'm sure there's a metaphor in there somewhere.

Fish on...

Todd

Sucks to hear. RIP