wants fans to know that his red eyes are not from smoking marijuana — but from catching fish.
The country singer, 47, opened up about his bass allergy on Tuesday, April 16, telling Audacy: “Just so we know, if I do interviews and I look like I’ve been smoking pot, that’s not true. I’ve been catching bass.”
Bryan continued: “If I touch a bass, my eyes will get red, my hands will swell if I have to take the hook out. I’ll get in front of it. I’m like, ‘I know I’m going to fish today,’ so I’ll take an Allegra in the morning.”
Bryan “spent years not knowing” about his allergy despite fishing since childhood.
“My dad would take me on these fishing trips, and I would be in the back of the boat like wheezing, maybe in need of an EpiPen,” he recalled. “My dad was just like, [‘Suck it up,’] we just thought it was allergies [to] the trees, but it’s actually touching the bass.”
Bryan learned he’s “not all alone” in the struggle. He joked about using his experience to launch a “new foundation” to benefit “those who’ve been cursed by the touch” of fish.
“So, maybe I can bring awareness,” he quipped. “It’s really sunfish, like a brim, a shell cracker. Any of those things, they wipe me out pretty good.”
Bryan has often used his social media to document his love for fishing — and even his injuries. In March 2021, Bryan shocked his followers when he revealed how he accidentally hooked his own hand while trying to catch a fish.
“Well, this is gonna leave a mark,” Bryan said in a graphic Instagram video that showed the sharp fishing hook poking out of his thumb. He also mentioned that he thought the hook could be stuck in his bone.
Bryan explained that he and a friend decided to seek medical attention for his injury, adding, “My guitar tech, I invited Russ on a fishing trip and leave it to me, I ruined the fishing trip. But we’ll be back on the water in about 25 minutes.”
That same day, the American Idol judge posted a clip of him laughing in a medical room before he was back out on the water again. “Got the hook out. We’re back,” Bryan wrote at the time.
