Fishing with Ryan Newman
November 24, 2007
On Saturday April 23, 2003 I had the honor of taking the 2002 NASCAR Winston Cup Raybesto’s Rookie of the Year, driver of the Number 12 All-Tel, Ford at the time, Ryan “Rocket Man” Newman out for a day of bass fishing on Lake Perris the day before his race at the California Speedway.
I also took his crew chief at the time Matt Borland out in my boat, Chrissy, his fiancé at the time and now his wife was supposed to attend but she couldn’t make it. Fellow members of the Fishing Kids.com Pro Team took the rest of his pit crew along with his dad out on the same day. Yes, that’s Ryan with me in some of the pictures in my above.
The way I met Ryan was while I watched NASCAR races they always said how much Ryan liked to go bass fishing and how he tried to get out at times during the race season. I then contacted his official fan club and after several months of sending e-mail’s to countless different people I finally managed to get in touch with his public relations person and started to setup the date.
I was asked not to go public with the information about the planned fishing trip so we could keep the crowd down and Ryan could enjoy fishing without being hounded by crowds. I then contacted my fellow Pro Team members and told them they needed to be available for the weekend of April 23/24 to take a celebrity out fishing. I didn’t tell them who it was or which lake we would be going to, just that it would be at a Southern California lake, on Saturday or Sunday so just be available and ready to go and that I would let them know all of the details on Thursday April 21.
So the stage was set, people in place and all systems go. Ryan had my cell phone number so Ryan could call me when they were on their way because they couldn’t show up until after they had Saturdays practice.
So we all show up bright and early to the lake to do some pre fishing to make sure we were on fish before Ryan and company showed up. We all were able to locate active fish so we were ready to go. We setup in the corner of one of the parking lots, shared information with each other and cleaned up our boats.
I got the call and Ryan and company showed up at the lake in the afternoon. Anyone that has been to Lake Perris on a Saturday during the spring knows what he lake was like, pleasure boaters everywhere, but hey, no problem.
We all launch our boats and off we go. The first spot I stop at is by the old road across the lake from the launch and we proceed to work the stretch from there towards rock climber’s cove. I explained to both Ryan and Matt that these California bass are very heavily pressured and offer to set them up with a finesse drop shot rig to which they said no. Ryan was throwing this funny looking, strange rigged, east coast looking, hard plastic purple worm, which I proceeded to tease him about.
Anyhow, after I catch 4 bass to their none, Matt comes up to me and asks me what I’m using again, so I rig him up and he proceeds to catch a bass. Again I tell Ryan to put down that stupid looking worm and use a west coast bait but he said he would stick with his funny looking worm. So, here Matt and I are catching bass and Ryan is not…………yet.
Yep, you guessed it, he ended up catching the largest bass of the day on that stupid looking worm and of course then it was his turn to be the ornery one. We continued to fish, catching them on Senko’s, drop shots and I even managed to get one on a jig. We had a great time, teased each other back and forth like we knew each other for years.
I’ve heard people say that Ryan is somewhat stuck up and a jerk when they have met him at the track but I personally know that he is far from stuck up or being a jerk. He is a down to earth great guy with a great sense of humor, he has to have one in order to put up with me in my boat for the day.
After we were done we stood around and took some pictures, got some autographs and talked about the day and how much fun we had. After packing things up Ryan asked me where the nearest In and Out Burger was so off we went to have Double Doubles with Grilled Onions.
About 2 weeks after we went fishing I get a package in the mail. Ryan sent me a bunch of autographed photos to hand out to my fellow Pro Team members, an autographed T-Shirt and can you guess what else was in the package? I’ll give ya a hint, remember what I mentioned I teased him the most about? Yep, 2 of them stupid looking purple worms.
We still to this day call each other and talk from time to time but since he became a NASCAR Super Star, with all of his sponsorship obligations he does not have much free time to break away and do much fishing during the race season but wishes he did.
That’s my story, I hope you enjoyed reading it as much as I enjoyed remembering it.
Until Next Time, Good Luck and Tight Lines To Ya!
No Bull
November 14, 2007
The following post is going to sound like a bunch of bull but I give you my word that it is 100% true, NO BULL.
A few years back while shore fishing at one of my favorite lakes, Haiwee Reservoir, which has since been closed because according to LADWP it’s a Homeland Security issue which is a crock. Anyhow, on with the story.
I pulled up to the water at about 7:00am and proceeded to make my first cast of the day, got a bite, set the hook and reeled in a bass that weighed about 3 pounds, “What a great day this is going to be” I said out loud as I released her back into the water. As I was replacing my torn up plastic worm I noticed this rather large bull, were talking the big black burley, pointed horns, hump backed, Brahma type ones you see in the rodeos that buck cowboys off and stomp them into the ground after they are on the ground, just for the fun of it. So he comes down to the shoreline about 10 yards from me to get a drink and I think nothing of it because I’m fixing to have a great day, or so I thought.
Oh yeah, I forgot to mention, there were several people about 20 yards away between the bull and I. I’m standing there getting ready to make another cast when I hear the people yelling at me, I turn and see this bull with his head lowered scraping his hoof on the ground and giving me the evil eye. So I figured I’d seen cowboys on TV yell at bulls and they would back down and this tactic of course always worked, on TV. All this did was made him mad and here he comes at be, head lowered with steam coming out of his nostrils. Of course he was between me and my truck, where I always keep a 357 magnum when I go fishing just on case, and on the other side of me was a chain link fence with razor wire on top of it so I was forced to take the only route possible, yep you guessed it, into the water I go.
Mr. Bull then proceeded to go up the hill behind me, still between me and my truck, so I get out of the water and I’m standing there, wet up to my waist and a little cold. Remember those people that were standing about 20 yards away, well guess what? They were laughing. I guess if the role was reversed I’d be laughing as well. So, I’m standing there and I figure what the heck, as long as he is standing up the hill from me I might as well continue to fish. I make a cast, of course the bass are kind of wondering just what is going on, me running into the water then expecting them to bite. Anyhow, I continue to watch Toro and he is keeping a very close eye on me, a very close evil eye mind you.
Oh yeah, in case you are wondering I was wearing blue jeans and a white t-shirt with a grey sweat shirt to help keep me warm. I look over my shoulder and there is Toro lowering his head and scrapping his hoof so I say to myself, “Self” just ignore him and he will leave you alone so I turn my back just in time to hear the people down the shore yelling to “Look out!”, I turn around and here he comes at me so once again into the water I go, this time up to my armpits. As a matter of fact Toro actually came into the water after me. He then turns smugly and slowly walks back up the hill. I’d almost swear I saw him smile and heard him snicker at me.
Once again I get back out of the water and Toro is still standing there giving me the evil eye. It was at this point I was starting to get very annoyed at the whole situation and apparently momentarily brain dead, so I say to him, “OK, Now you done gone and made me mad!” I reach down and pick up this big rock, about the size of a cantaloupe and I proceed to hurl it at this crazy bull. Let me tell you something now and please make note of it, under any circumstances “DO NOT THROW A ROCK AT A MAD BULL!”
Here comes Toro, full steam ahead, lowered head, smoke coming out of his nostrils with the “I’m going to take you out” look in his eyes, so once again into the water I go, this time I’m actually treading water because he came in after me. So there I am, treading water, with my fishing pole in one hand, people down the shore rolling on the ground laughing like crazy all the while wondering just what in the world did I do to this bull to make him want to come after me in the first place and hoping that bulls cant swim, can they?
Toro then makes his way back up the top of the hill so I get out of the water and realize that my fishing tackle has been flattened by this crazy beast, luckily I had only took a limited amount of tackle down to the water with me and only had the one pole, which came in the water with me. By now I figure the bass are long gone, either that or they were watching the whole fiasco and were laughing too hard to even consider biting.
Finally Toro grows tired of messing with me and wanders off. I’m picturing the whole thing in my head and it made me laugh, it sure would have been nice to catch it on video because I’m sure I could have won on Americas Funniest Home Videos. Because I’m in a good mood after getting back to my truck I decided not to hunt Toro down and fill my freezer with steaks, though I have to admit, the thought did cross my mind.
I’ve since talked to several friends who have cattle and bulls as well and the only conclusion I could come up with is that quite possibly this bull came down to the water in this same spot everyday to have a drink and hang out for a little while and I broke his “Pattern” so that made him mad, either that or he just didn’t like me. Either way, it was quite the experience for me, NO BULL!
Until Next Time, Good Luck And Tight Lines To Ya!
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