Elite

Early start with Lowen

Head out early with last year's Pickwick winner Bill Lowen as he gets started on Day 1 of the 2022 Whataburger Bassmaster Elite at Pickwick Lake!

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Photography by
Kyle Jessie
Bill Lowen was naturally one of the favorites heading into the Whataburger Bassmaster Elite at Pickwick Lake after winning his first Elite Series event just a year ago on this very body of water.
Lowen started his morning not too far from takeoff on an offshore shell bar.
Unfortunately, he was one of the last anglers to take off this morning, so he wasn’t the first angler to make it to this spot.
Second year Elite KJ Queen was th first to the spot.
Matt Robertson was also fishing the bar.
The Indiana pro dialed in his Humminbird electronics in hopes of finding a group of fish offshore.
Robertson was the first angler to move on from this sweet spot.
Shortly after Robertson left, David Mullins fished nearby Queen and Lowen.
The lack of current and number of competitors had Lowen ready to head out just an hour or so after his arrival.
After a fairly long run, Lowen sets up shop in the type of water we have become to expect him to fish.
With so many boats fishing offshore on the main river ledges, Lowen didn’t have a competitor within at two miles of this shallow flat.
The first piece of cover Lowen targets is a giant tree stump.
After working his way around the entire tree, Lowen hooks up with a non keeper.
Just moments after boating a non-keeper, Lowen hooks up with a solid fish.
Lowen’s extreme patcience pays off, as he land a nice fish early in the morning.
This one piece of cover yielded four bites, but just one keeper.
After making two circles around the tree, Lowen decides to head further back into a back water area.
Lowen pulls a few extra rods out of the box.
After methodically picking apart each piece of isolated wood in this backwater creek, Lowen boats another non-keeper.

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