Just fishing around for the simple pleasures

This handsome young lead of the successful WB drama “One Tree Hill” isn’t much like his brooding alter ego, Luke. He loves having fun all around the Southland, indoors and out.

Home

I have a home in Sherman Oaks, so I’ll get some exercise sometimes walking Joe -- he’s a white half shepherd and wolf, but he’s the nicest dog. He goes on the road with me. If I tell him to “stay in the trailer,” he’ll sit there; no matter how long shooting runs, he stays. When I’m in town I take him to that dog park off Mulholland, and he loves it.

And away

But here’s what a real good weekend is like: It starts early Friday morning. My boys -- Teddy Pardo (“American Dreams”), Dan Anic, a comedian, and Aaron Melch, a songwriter -- head up to Sequoia National Park. We do this maybe three times a year. We pack stuff for salads, then catch our own fish and make a big campfire. Now, that’s good. We make Corona fish: We wrap the fish in tinfoil with butter and a splash of Corona beer on top. That’s gooood. We sit back, have our salad and fish and drink a few Coronas. Then we’ll maybe walk around a bit, stay overnight, fish again in the morning, walk around some.... It’s just nice. I mean, we don’t do anything over-strenuous up there. It’s mostly time to catch up on each other’s careers, bounce ideas and things off each other. We did see a bear up there one time, just rummaging through someone’s trash. We froze, but some other people nearby started throwing stuff at him. He ate what he had and went on off.

In town

On all the other weekends that I’m in town, it’s Starbucks every Friday. We sit in the corner and talk about our careers and drink macchiatos. Well, now I’m a white chocolate mocha with vanilla. My buds are still hanging with the macchiatos.

Some nights I’ll take a lady to a movie in Sherman Oaks. The last thing I saw was “21 Grams.” I loved watching Sean Penn, but it’s the kind of movie that messes with your brain. But Sean Penn’s my idol. I saw “Mystic River,” and the performances were so strong and the cast was so incredible, it was wonderful. I even read for a part for that movie, I so much wanted to be in a movie with Sean Penn. It would have been a small role, as the boyfriend to Penn’s daughter. But the guy that got the part was great.

Then maybe we’ll eat. California Pizza Kitchen is one of my favorites. They’ve got this two-in-a-bowl soup, so I get tortilla soup and potato leek soup. It’s always CPK or P.F. Chang’s. Now, at P.F. Chang’s, I’ll get orange chicken, wonton soup, egg noodles, chicken fried rice and honey chicken. I need chicken. I eat a lot.

Lazy Sundays

Sunday mornings, I wake up at 10 and I don’t leave from in front of the set until midnight. I have friends over, except when the Buffalo Bills are playing. Then I don’t want anyone around. It’s just me and the dog. We sit there in our Buffalo Bills jerseys -- my dog has one too -- and we totally focus on the game. At 8 p.m. I take a break and watch “The Simpsons,” then it’s back to football. Listen, I even have DirecTV in my trailer for when we have to work out of town. I’m not missing any games.

-- Carolyn Patricia Scott