Gut or bottom line? It’s been Bill Lowen’s dilemma which to follow in much of his Bassmaster Elite Series career. While he has sniffed several titles, Lowen was nearly resigned he might never win an Elite.
“I guess you start telling yourself that,” the 46-year-old from Brookville, Ind., said. “In the back of your head, there’s always that little voice, ‘Is it ever going to happen?’ I think all of us as anglers, we all want to win.”
Lowen wrote in his column, “A weight has been lifted,” that he could have lived with it. After all, a number of great anglers have carved out successful careers and never won.
“Would I have been fine with that?” he said. “I guess, but boy it sure makes it a hell of a lot sweeter to win that blue trophy.”
Tied atop the leaderboard heading into the final day, Lowen followed his instincts, and he weighed in more than he thought he had in winning the Guaranteed Rate Bassmaster Elite at Pickwick Lake on March 23. Wildly fluctuating conditions created by a storm that delayed the event two days made adjustments critical. And it was Lowen who made all the right moves to exit the best-to-never-win contingent.
“I guess it kind of puts the icing on the cake, it kind of solidifies your career,” he said.
Fishing the top B.A.S.S. circuit since its inception in 2006, Lowen has been runner-up three times, made 20 Top 10s and amassed $1.4 million in earnings. Known as the guy “who will 12-pound you to death,” he’s always taken the steady approach of going after limits, and that’s helped him reach 10 Classics and cash checks in 116 of 159 events, a stellar 73% rate.
“That’s how I’ve been able to keep the lights on, survive, put food in my kids’ mouths and shoes on their feet,” he said. “I didn’t have a choice.”
Lowen boasts the most vocal cheering section in wife, Jennifer; daughter, Nevaeh; and son, Fischer. Known as Team Scream, they holler wildly whenever he takes the stage. Since the win, they’ve been on cloud nine, he said. While the whirlwind of interviews has only slowed to a trickle, the night of his win, Lowen got back to the camper and tried to answer 250 congratulatory texts.
“I don’t even know 250 people,” he said. “If they’re supporting me, they deserve to know I’m watching as well.
“I knew it would be crazy if or when we ever won, but I truly didn’t know it would be as crazy as it has been. To get the outpouring of support, it really opened my eyes of how many people are following. Wow, it’s been unbelievable.”
It was a popular victory among fellow anglers and fans, who know the family man for deeds like awarding B.A.S.S. memberships to youth at weigh-ins. Lowen, however, said he had no idea he had a chance to win, even as the weigh-in progressed.
Lowen landed the big bass on Championship Tuesday to take the virtual lead on BassTrakk, the unofficial leaderboard that tabulates anglers’ weights. With a late 5-pounder, Brock Mosley finished atop those standings. In an on-stage interview with emcee Dave Mercer before fish were weighed, Lowen got choked up. Understandably, winners often get emotional, but Lowen still didn’t know if he would win, so he tried to explain why that moment affected him so.
“I don’t know. I don’t know how to describe it,” he said. “I guess it’s not knowing. ‘Yeah, you got a shot, but man, it’s going to suck if you finish second.’ I don’t know, it’s just all those things going through your head, seeing your family out there bawling their eyes out. Just the whole thing. Everything I go through, they go through. Seeing them all tore up, it’s hard for me not to get tore up.
“That’s years of close calls and grinds and sacrifices and heartaches. I’ve been close before. I had a lot of tournaments where I legitimately had an opportunity to win, and it just seemed like something always happened. The wheels came off or somebody got a big bite.”
In his most recent runner-up finish, Lowen was thwarted when Aaron Martens landed a late 7-pounder to win on Chesapeake Bay in 2015. A 10-11 helped Byron Velvick hold off Lowen in 2010 on Clear Lake, and Lowen climbed from sixth to second with a solid final day on Old Hickory in 2008.
“It just seemed like it needed to go my way one time,” he said.
His time was 10:30. With four fish he estimated between 2 and 2-8, Lowen landed a game changer. He received a text the night before from mentor and Hall of Fame angler Denny Brauer telling him to go out and catch a 7-pounder on their preferred black and blue jig. Lowen did that and some, with his 8-5 ending up as the Phoenix Boats Big Bass of the event.
“I knew if I didn’t get a big bite, I wasn’t going to have a shot,” Lowen said. “Literally, the dock before I catch it, I’m thinking about Denny sending me that text message about catching a big one. It’s crazy how things work out. I pitch under that dock, get that bite. When I set the hook and it came out from under the dock … she looked like she was about 7-foot long.
“I’m like, ‘Oh my gosh!’ Immediately, things start going through your head, ‘Please don’t come off.’ That’s kind of the other demon I’ve been fighting, losing fish. It’s like I’m praying to God this fish doesn’t come off. I see it in her throat. I can see the jig in the roof of her mouth. I just needed to not do anything stupid. Fortunately, it worked out.”
Boating the beast on Bassmaster LIVE, Lowen said that lifted a huge weight off him, but he thought he still needed a 4-pounder to close the deal. Anglers never think they have enough weight, and Lowen kept plugging until check-in with only one more cull.
“I’ve truly never been that big fish guy. I hate slugfests. I’ve always prided myself on being very consistent, catching a limit all the time. Big fish for me, they just come,” Lowen said. “It aint’ like, ‘I’m going to go out and catch me some big ‘uns today.’”
In the Day 2 big bag of 23-13, Lowen had more consistency with a pair of largemouth topping 5 pounds. He said he has tried switching things up the past few years, going with bigger baits in hopes of bigger bites.
“Every time I do that, it works,” he said. “I’ve been fighting it, fighting it. I’m going to start listening to it.”
When he got to the backstage tanks, Lowen didn’t think he had enough. His BassTrakk had him at 16-10 while Mosley, who began the day 4-13 back, was 9 ounces ahead. While a pound low on his lunker, Lowen had underestimated all his fish.
“They were just so short and fat and blowed up — they were easy to misjudge,” he said. “I didn’t realize what I had until I was getting ready to go on stage.”
That’s when practice partner Matt Herren offered another boost.
Herren and wife, Candy, camp alongside the Lowens. The anglers fish similarly, and someone to bounce ideas off is a necessity on the Elites. Lowen said it’s great to trust another pro, where three days practice can turn into six.
“We are tight. We’re with them all the time, like an aunt and uncle to their kids. Bill’s one of the best individuals,” Herren said, adding he did some intel on Lowen years ago. “I called Denny Brauer and asked him what kind of individual he is. He said whatever he tells you, you can take it to the bank.”
Before Herren was eliminated on Day 3 — by rule he couldn’t share info if not still in the competition — he offered Lowen a tip. Noticing some bass had moved to bluffs, Herren said it might be something Lowen could try if his pattern went south. Lowen caught two on his bluffs that helped him in weight, as well as settling him down.
At the tanks, Herren assessed Lowen’s bag, telling him each of his fish entered as 2-plus pounders were for sure 3-pounders. Lowen started thinking he might indeed have more than the 18-2 he needed to pass Mosley, who weighed the day’s big bag at 22-14 to take the hot seat with 80-11.
“I never felt the true weight because the big one was in its own bag,” said Lowen, whose eyes were opening when all were combined as he headed to the stage. “I dunked them and thought, ‘Oh my God, I got 20 pounds.’ I thought I was going to puke in the tank.”
The scales showed 20-11, giving him 83-5 and the Pickwick title, which elicited greater emotions from him, his family, fans and friends, including Herren.
“My reaction, they send me a video, and I didn’t know what I had done,” Herren said, “but it looked like I had won the tournament.”
Lowen is the third first-time winner this season, following Jeff Gustafson on the Tennessee River and Bryan New on the St. Johns River. Last year, there were six anglers who won their first blue trophy. From experience, Lowen knows winning one of the nine events each year in a 99-man field is a great feat, and he’d sure like to taste victory again.
“I sure as heck hope it doesn’t take as long,” he said. “I think if anything for me, it made me realize to trust my instincts and my gut. I’ve always listened to my gut, but sometimes you fight it.
“It worked out almost flawlessly. Moving forward, I’m going to start taking more of those risks, listen to my gut and trust more in my abilities. I might zero in my next one and be like, ‘OK, I’m going back to fishing for a limit.’”
But he’ll always have Pickwick.
