Home: Nashville, Tenn.
Years fishing: About 21
Favorite bass lures: Buzz baits and hula poppers
Favorite fishing hole: A three-acre tank on a friend’s land near Nashville
Favorite fishing buddies: The band
Largest bass ever caught: 5 1/2-pound bass, near Nashville
Largest fish that got away: I was casting for smallmouth on Percy Priest Lake, Tenn., and I got something huge. I don’t know what it was, but I fought it for 15 minutes and it was definitely a big fish.
Bryan White became a country music star at age 20. Now, five years later, he has charted one gold and two platinum albums as well as five number-one records. In addition to his music, White is also one of country music’s most avid fishermen. So what does this young country idol, a man with the world at his disposal, spend most of his money on? “Fishing stuff at Wal-Mart,” he says. And he’s serious, folks.
Let’s get this straight right away: country music star Bryan White loves fishing. A lot. And that’s not always so easy for him to do; at 25, the multi-platinum recording artist is a busy young man. Last October, he released his fourth album, “How Lucky I Am,” and this year he is touring to over 150 shows across the nation. Plus, he recently became engaged. But however rigorous his schedule may be, White will go out of his way to find some time for fishing.
“My band and management laugh at me. If I’ve got three hours free in the summertime, I’ll slip away with my boat for an hour on the lake. Any chance I get to go fishing, I go. To me, it’s consumed me. It’s the best thing I can think of to do,” he explains.
Known throughout country music as a clean-cut nice guy – Shania Twain called him “very sweet and shy” – White does afford himself certain celebrity-type indulgences when it comes to fishing, such as the custom-built rack he has installed in his tour bus to hold his numerous fishing rods.
“Thanks to the folks at Ranger boats, they sometimes set us up with guides when we’re on the road,” he says.
His passion for fishing sprang, like that of so many anglers, from the influence of his father. Bud White, also a musician, began taking him and his brothers out to the lake for some quality time when they were very young. Bryan White soon started to value the peace of mind he experienced while on the water. Ever since, he’s been hooked on fishing.
He recalls an endearing incident from those days that sealed his appreciation for the sport. One day, his father was casting for bass from an inner tube and waders. Having hooked what he thought was a whale, Bud White battled for a good while trying to reel it in. He brought the catch to the end of his rod and discovered he had caught his own foot, still in the rubber waders.
“I got the bug from my dad,” White says. “We didn’t approach it technically back then, like I do now, but more as a way to go out for fun and maybe to catch some food. It wasn’t until later in life that it sort of turned into a real science for me.”
Science, peace of mind, relaxation – these are all descriptives White sprinkles into a conversation about bass fishing. While music is his calling, it can be a hectic lifestyle. So he embraces the serenity he feels when he’s out enjoying his other passion: casting a line. “I’ll go out there by myself and just hang. Fishing’s about getting away from all the telephones and all that stuff so you can just chill,” he explains.
But do not misunderstand. Though fishing is White’s hobby, he takes it quite seriously (as the rod rack in his bus can attest), and he invests more than just the occasional free hour on the sport. He tries to get out on the water three or four times a week. Plus, as he told Music City News magazine, “The thing I spend the most money on, I swear, has been going to buy fishing stuff at Wal-Mart.”
Of course, his friends and family also share his enthusiasm. Four of his bandmates are also serious bass anglers and they are always game for an afternoon of fishing. “To me it’s a blast always to have somebody to call up when you want to go fishing. There’s always somebody around who’s willing to go,” he says.
His fiancee, actress Erika Page from TV’s One Life To Live, also accompanies White to the tank occasionally. “She goes with me a lot. I get pretty serious about it, but she does it more as a relaxation technique. She’s a good fisherwoman,” White says.
And he still likes to take his dad and brothers out for a spell. His Father’s Day gift last year to his dad was a fishing trip on the Cumberland River, northwest of his native Nashville. And he regularly chases sand bass on the expanses of J. Percy Priest Lake, on the other side of Nashville.
But his favorite fishing hole of all is a fishery that band member Scott Emerick showed him. Located about an hour-and-a-half southwest of Nashville, it is a small, private lake where he insists the bass bite like mosquitoes. Last October, on his biggest day of fishing ever, he pulled out over 40 fish in three hours from the tank. Plus, he snagged his largest bass ever at 5 1/2 pounds.
“I got him off of a little point, two feet out in about three feet of water,” White says about the big catch. “That’s probably the best place I can think of to go fishing. It’s about three acres. The best way to describe it is fishing there is like hunting at a petting zoo.”
But with White, it doesn’t really matter where he goes fishing. It just matters that he does go. “I love fishing. I just love it. Anywhere near water puts me at peace.” He and the band are especially looking forward to a summer road trip through Colorado where they will be able to hit the South Platte River for some fly-fishing.
Asked who in the band usually catches the most fish, White demurs at first, “It depends. If someone’s having a good day, we always say he’s got the `juju.'”
Then, like a true fisherman, his own juju gets the best of him, “But since this is an interview, I probably should say I do.”
White’s favorite technique is to work worms, and he admits he needs to improve on his baitcasting. “But that’s the great thing about fishing – you just never quit learning,” he says.
He has learned a little about promoting the fishing industry, too, and how rewarding that can be. He once mentioned, during a TV appearance on TNN’s Prime Time Country, how much he would love a new bass boat. Sammy Lee, national promotions director at Ranger Boats, saw the request and set him up with a brand new 2000 Ranger Comanche 520.
“It has five times the storage space of my last one,” White gushes. “It’s a great boat. I can’t wait for it to warm up so I can get it out on the water.”
Not surprisingly, White is a student and a fan of the professional bass tournament scene. At last year’s Ranger Boats conference in Missouri, he ran boats during the day and performed for the audience at night. Though a performer himself, he says intense pro bass competitions like the Wal-Mart FLW Tour rile him up, and he looks forward to the next event he can attend.
“Any of those events I can be at I’ll be there,” he promises. “I love those events, man, with all those big fishermen. They get me pumped.”