provided by John Phillips
Forty-Six year-old Mossy Oak Fishing Pro Bill Lowen (Dollar Bill) from Brookville, Indiana, has made over $1.2 million in 14 years of bass fishing and currently ranks No. 46 worldwide. Recently, he fished a tournament on Lake Eufaula. On the first day, he was in the lead, but he finished in 20th place, receiving a $10,000 check. Bill Lowen is one of the most consistent check winners in the Elite Series, and we wanted to know what caused him to go from placing 1st to 20th place in a matter of days.
Tournament Day 1:
Leading up to the first day of the tournament, the weather was made up of gray skies, rain and wind, which gave me the chance to catch a big sack full of bass that were holding in shallow grass on the main lake. However, the next two days were the complete opposite - filled with sunshine, blue skies and good wind. These changes caused me to struggle throughout the end of the tournament, but I was fortunate enough to catch a few more bass and win a check.
Leading up to the first day of the tournament while fishing in dreary weather, I caught numbers of bass holding in shallow grass on the main lake with my Lew’s Custom Lite Speed Stick while fishing a green-pumpkin colored 1/3-ounce jig that I ordered from Lure Parts online on 20-pound test fluorocarbon line. I flipped the jig into the water willows and shoreline grass and wherever I saw open holes and lanes. My biggest fish on the first day weighed a little bit more than 5 pounds, and my bag of bass came out to be 23 pounds and 4 ounces.
Tournament Day 2:
On the second day, however, the weather was the complete opposite - filled with sunshine, blue skies and wind. Down in my gut, I knew that this day wasn’t going to be good for me to catch bass. Still, I tried to return to the area I’d fished on the first day but soon realized the bass weren’t holding in those spots. I caught one bass there and then moved offshore where I spotted an underwater bridge. I threw a 3/4-ounce football-head jig on the bridge and immediately got a bite. But before I even brought it halfway back to the boat, it got off my hook. I fished that rig for another 30 minutes, until I caught another big bass that also got away. I was fortunate enough to catch yet another 5 pounder while fishing a dock. At the end of the day, my bag weighed 17 pounds of bass.
Tournament Day 3:
The third day was even tougher than the second had been. I caught five bass that weighed a total of 10 pounds, 4 ounces. I only had one big bite and lost it. Even though it was bigger than all of the other bass I had in my bag, I don’t think that it would’ve weighed more than 4 pounds. Looking back on that day, I believe I could have put a bigger bag together, if I had started fishing the worm earlier in the day. My mistake was that I continued to fish where the bass were on the first day, instead of looking elsewhere. When the weather conditions change, so do the bass. By not switching tactics, it caused me to miss the cut on the last day
To learn more about Bill Lowen, visit https://www.facebook.com/TurtleLowen/.
