Big bites made the difference on Day One of Stop Four of the National Professional Fishing League on Logan Martin Lake. While much of the field found numbers, separating from the pack required quality fish, and no one put together a better bag than veteran Bill Lowen. The Humminbird and Minn Kota pro brought 17 pounds, 14 ounces to the scales, anchored by a 4-pound largemouth, to take the overnight lead over a tightly packed leaderboard.
Greg Vinson sits in second after weighing 15 pounds, 10 ounces, finishing the day 2 pounds, 4 ounces behind Lowen. Troy Roder continued his strong rookie campaign with 15 pounds, 6 ounces to end the day in third. Andy Morgan and Gerald Swindle round out the top five with limits weighing 14-13 and 14-11, respectively, giving the event a veteran-heavy leaderboard heading into Day Two.
With weights expected to remain close throughout the week, one quality bite could be the difference between climbing into the lead or falling down the standings. Logan Martin has already proven that consistency will keep anglers in contention, but finding the right bites will ultimately determine who hoists the trophy on Saturday.
Queen Grabs Early AOY Advantage
Coming into Stop Four, which marks the start of the second half of the 2026 season, Oklahoma pro Zack Birge and North Carolina Pro KJ Queen shared the lead in the Work Sharp NPFL Angler of the Year race with 722 points each. South Carolina pro Brandon Cobb sat just one point back in third, setting up a tight battle at Logan Martin.
After Day One, the standings have already begun to shuffle. Queen turned in one of the better bags of the day, weighing 14-11, putting him in sixth and giving him the unofficial AOY lead heading into Day Two.
Cobb also positioned himself well, weighing 13-8 to sit in 21st. After starting just one point behind the leaders, his solid opening day unofficially moves him into second in the AOY race.
Birge, meanwhile, struggled to find the quality bites he was looking for in practice but managed to scrap together a 12-pound, 5-ounce limit. Sitting 40th after Day One, he unofficially falls to third in the standings with two days remaining.
Lowen Sticks to His Strengths
Coming into Stop Four, Indiana pro Bill Lowen was fighting a battle every professional angler goes through. 2026 has been a tougher season than he was used to, and he found himself trying to force his approach instead of fishing the way he was most comfortable. During practice, he decided to put the stubbornness aside and simply fish his strengths – and it worked.
“You know, today was just a fun day. One of those days I needed,” he said. “I’m having a less-than-average year, and I’m not used to it. I told myself I wasn’t going to fight things anymore and was just going to fish how I wanted to catch them. It just worked out today.”
Fishing both on and off the bank, Lowen used practice to locate a handful of productive areas around Logan Martin. He started on a couple of those places Thursday morning, including one he described as more of a community hole, and things came together much faster than he expected.
“It got good faster than I thought, and I got to rolling,” he said. “I caught a decent limit, then went practicing, using Humminbird LakeMaster to find what I was looking for in new places. In fact, I fished a few new places this afternoon and culled with some heavy fish. It was a fun day.”
Using his Humminbird XPLORE and LakeMaster mapping, Lowen was able to quickly identify similar water throughout the lake as he expanded his “pattern.” Instead of spending time searching, he could pull into a spot with confidence and get right back to fishing.
“I did have some folks around me this morning, but I feel like what I’m doing is a little more specific, and maybe that helped me get some bigger bites,” he said. “This afternoon, I could see some people around, but for the most part I was able to fish what I wanted. I’m just going to keep doing what I like to do, keep my head down, and fish.”
Day One Leaderboard
Bill Lowen 17-14
Greg Vinson 15-10
Troy Roder 15-6
Andy Morgan 14-13
Gerald Swindle 14-11
KJ Queen 14-11
Greg Hackney 14-10
Corey Casey 14-9
Derek Lehtonen 14-7
Brad Staley 14-7
Wesley Gore 14-3
Paul Browning 14-3
Buddy Gross 14-1
Stacey James 14-0
Darrell Davis 14-0
Ryan Satterfield 13-15
Tim Frederick 13-14
Hunter Sales 13-12
Mike Quinlin 13-12
Logan Latuso 13-11
Brandon Cobb 13-8
Shane Lineberger 13-3
Ray Hanselman 13-3
Scott Canterbury 13-2
Jason Meninger 13-1
Russ Lane 13-0
Josh Butler 12-15
Harmon Davis 12-15
Gary Adkins 12-13
Hank Cherry 12-13
JT Russell 12-11
Kyle Glasgow 12-11
Jon Canada 12-11
Todd Goade 12-9
Brad Whatley 12-9
Alton Wilhoit 12-9
David Williams 12-8
Jacob Powroznik 12-8
Todd Auten 12-8
Zack Birge 12-5
Scott Suggs 12-4
James Watson 12-3
Jason Burroughs 12-2
Timothy Reams 12-2
Matt Herren 12-1
Fred Roumbanis 12-1
Bill Day 12-0
Jason Wilson 12-0
Wes Logan 11-15
Brock Mosley 11-13
Drew Cook 11-12
Andrew Upshaw 11-11
John Cox (GA) 11-11
Christopher Whisenant 11-10
Gerald Spohrer 11-10
Chad Marler 11-9
Lavoyd Lemmond 11-8
Adam Savage 11-4
Chad Grigsby 11-4
Keith Bardolf 11-2
James Niggemeyer 11-1
Pete Ponds 11-1
Richard Cooper 11-0
Tim Cales 11-0
Quentin Cappo 10-14
Barron Adams 10-12
Jordan Osborne 10-11
Alex Davis 10-9
Cliff Crochet 10-7
Randall Tharp 10-6
J. Todd Tucker 10-6
Sean Alvarez 10-6
Mitchell Webb 10-4
Nick Brown 10-0
Chris Baker 10-0
T-Roy Broussard 9-15
John Cox (FL) 9-14
Darrel Robertson 9-14
Patrick Walters 9-13
Garrett Smith 9-11
Josh Hooks 9-11
Bob Behrle 9-10
Bo Collins 9-10
Jason Williamson 9-10
William Fletcher 9-10
Hunter Baughman 9-5
Ron Johnson 9-4
David Wootton 9-2
Dylan Freeze 9-2
Austin Garland 9-1
Dustin Williamson 8-15
Jared Lintner 8-12
Luke Clausen 8-12
Jamie Pierce 8-10
Timothy Wilson 8-9
Travis Jewell 8-8
Rickey Morris 8-7
Matthew McBee 8-7
Harry Moore 8-7
Dustin Reneau 8-6
Joey Bloom 7-13
Scott Wiley 7-11
Kevin Rogers 7-11
Chip Harrington 7-11
Josh Watkins 7-6
Michael Comeau 7-6
Charlie Apperson 6-14
Joseph Lineberry 6-11
Lendell Martin 6-6
Johnnie Adams 4-10