By Pete Robbins
Special to BassFan
The high-level consistency that was once Bill Lowen’s hallmark seemed to abandon him at the beginning of this decade. Between 2020-23, he finished no higher than 40th and no lower than 53rd in the Elite Series Angler of the Year standings. Then came a career-worst 84th-place showing in 2024.
Only when he returned to the tactics that had allowed him to qualify for 12 Bassmaster Classics – and seven in a row from 2011 through 2017 – did the Indiana pro get his mojo back.
He started off the 2025 Elite Series season with a victory at the St. Johns River, the second Elite win of his career. He then rattled off seven straight money finishes before settling in at 13th in the standings at season’s end.
It was his best result since 2019, and the fourth-best of his 20 seasons on the circuit, and while he doubled his Bassmaster win count this year, he believes that going back to his pre-win roots was what allowed him to return to form.
Unintended Consequences
Lowen’s reputation for “being able to 12-pound you to death” led to lots of checks and lots of Classic berths, but no wins until 2021. He’d come close – he logged runner-up finishes at Old Hickory (2008), Clear Lake (2010) and the Chesapeake Bay (2015) – but the blue trophy remained out of reach.
When he finally won at Pickwick in 2021 – by a mere 4 ounces over Jay Przekurat – he felt that a weight had been lifted. Moreover, a door seemed to have been opened.
“I had always been so consistent,” he said. “But after I won at Pickwick, all I wanted to do was win again. I was taking bigger chances and lost what I was really good at. As [my wife] Jennifer and I talked about it over the offseason, we realized that I’d lost what I was really good at. If the opportunity came along to win, I would take it, but I wouldn’t press as hard.”
When he won at the St. Johns to start off the season, it didn’t change that approach. Other than a dreadful 97th at Lake St. Clair late in the season, he’d recaptured his consistency with four finishes in the 20s, two in the 40s and one near miss at 54th to end the year.
Learning to Cope
Lowen doesn’t think that a change in attitude and perspective was the only reason for his struggles in recent years. He was a vocal advocate for B.A.S.S. when a sizeable number of his long-term colleagues split off for the Bass Pro Tour after the 2018 season. He’d also internalized some of the general negativity that had engulfed the sport.
The biggest change, however, especially for a pro who prided himself on ultra-shallow water skills, was the rise of forward-facing sonar.
“It’s not secret that deal dominates,” he said. “After getting my teeth kicked in a few times I knew that I needed to learn it or get left behind, so I’ve spent the past two years learning and I’m glad I did. If I’ve got to use scope I will, but I do it my way.”
He’s found Humminbird’s Mega Live 2 perfect for bolstering his existing skills.
“I’m not necessarily using it to see a bass and throw at that bass,” he said. “If I do that, it’s a bonus. For me, it’s really good at finding isolated cover, something that I didn’t know was there. Ninety percent of the time I still don’t see the fish, but I can make a cast and get a bite. Instead of fighting it, I made it fit into my style.”
He’s also not big on pinging a minnow. His return to form came by limiting his tackle selection.
“I locked a jig in my hand,” he said.
Beyond that, it’s been a simple assortment of a few key Zoom plastics, a spinnerbait, a buzzbait and a vibrating jig. Whether he was fishing B.A.S.S., where live sonar was allowed, or the NPFL, where it is prohibited, the tools remained the same.
Young Gun to Grizzled Veteran
Lowen was just 32 when he joined the Elite Series for its inaugural season in 2006, and 33 when he fished his first Classic. That’s old by the standards of today’s rookies, but over the course of his career he’s been fortunate to receive guidance from anglers in the generations ahead of him. He noted that “watching Denny Brauer in the Classic was what drove my love for bass fishing,” and then he had the unique advantage in later years to travel, share notes and receive mentorship from the 1998 Classic champ and Hall of Famer.
Later, the Lowens camped with Matt Herren and his wife, Candy. Herren, as most BassFans know, left the Elite Series this year to exclusively fish the NPFL. For Lowen, it was a loss, but also as a transition point – from pupil to mentor, and to an elder statesman of the tour.
He’s the only angler currently qualified for the 2026 Classic through the Elites who was born in the 1970s. If John Crews, currently the first man out, were to slide in, that list would double in size. Even Crews – like Lowen an original Elite – is 7 1/2 years Lowen’s junior.
Lowen's victory at the St. Johns River this year didn't alter his commitment to fishing his strengths.
So while many of Lowen’s current competitors are closer in age to his children than to him, he’s found a role as a mentor, specifically to Wes Logan. Like Lowen, Logan earned his second Elite victory this year, albeit just a few days before his 31st birthday.
“Until I heard him on the Stray Casts podcast, I didn’t know that I was his Denny Brauer,” Lowen said. “Our relationship reminds me of the relationship I had with Denny – sharing info, that whole trust thing. It’s hard to find that kind of relationship.”
Back to the Classic
Missing four consecutive Classics was painful, but the 2024 regular season upped the stress to a new level. He only cashed one check – at the St. Johns – but it was a mediocre money finish in 36th. Meanwhile, he missed a total of $30,000 by just a few places, finishing 51st, 52nd and 56th, but also suffered bombs of 92nd and 102nd.
“When you’re sucking and having a hard go at it, you pretty much want to quit,” he said. “But I’ve never been a quitter at anything in my life. Whether it’s a tournament or a boat show, I’m the first guy there and the last guy to leave.”
So after getting his head screwed back on right, Lowen focused on getting back to the Classic. Again, he recalled watching Brauer crossing the stage as lighting the spark under him to pursue this career.
“It was starting to weigh on me,” he said of the four straight years working the Classic Expo instead of walking across the stage. “I’ll never take it for granted, but the Classic has always been what has driven me. When the split happened, it made me want it more. I knew that if I went to MLF I might never walk across that stage again.”
“I don’t want to say that last year was an eye-opener,” he said. “But I knew that I had to figure this out. The young guns are better than we’ve ever seen. You have to do what you do, get back to your style. I feel like I was a well-rounded angler, but I’d lost myself. Now I feel like I’m found.”
Lowen missed the first two Classics held in Knoxville, Tenn., site of the 2026 edition. He had a 43rd-place showing there during the 2021 Elite Series season, so he’s torn. The Classic is effectively a winner-take-all event and he believes his career renaissance is attributable to not focusing exclusively on wins, but the consistency he’s been known for. He’ll push that to the side for one week next March.
“I used to go into all of them just wanting to make the third day, not wanting to suck,” he said. “You want to be sure you go across the stage three days in a row. But after working with the fans the past four years, I’m not going to fish for a check this time. I’ll either do extremely well or I’m going to zero. It’s all about getting in an area with the right-sized fish and beating the scopers.”
Even if he doesn’t win this time around, he believes that his resuscitated attitude puts him in the position to qualify for more Classics down the road, to be consistently competitive and to fulfill his career goals.
“I don’t need more trophies,” he said. “I’m blessed to have two blue trophies and I’ll never take that for granted. But what I really want to do is pass on my knowledge of the sport and of the outdoors – fishing, waterfowl hunting, deer hunting. When I was growing up, somebody always took the time to teach me how to do things the right way, and now it’s all about passing it on. I feel like I’m in a really good place right now. Team Lowen is in a good place right now.”
