Now A Grizzled Vet, Ehrler Keeps Cruising Along

By John Johnson
BassFan Senior Editor

It doesn’t seem like all that long ago when Brent Ehrler was one of the bright young stars in professional bass fishing. He’s been a tour-level pro for more than two decades, however, and as the 2025 season dawns he finds himself, a couple of weeks before his 48th birthday, as the oldest competitor among the Top 25 of the BassFan World Rankings.

You have to go down to No. 34 in the Rankings (55-year-old Skeet Reese) to find an angler who’s been alive longer than he has.

“I don’t really consider myself a veteran even though I’ve been around for a while,” said the Californian who currently occupies the 24th spot on the list (he held the top slot for a brief period in 2010 before Reese went on an epic hot streak to take over that position). “It seems like I went from an up-and-comer to a veteran in about one season and I was like, ‘how does that work?’

“Now I see myself being in the position of the guys I looked up to back then. Instead of just trying to get by, now I’m more concerned with a lot of the decisions that are being made in the sport. I’m more involved now, which is probably a better way to put it. Back then I didn’t even know if I could do this full-time; I was just trying to cash enough checks to fish the next season.”

He holds a bachelor’s degree in marketing from La Sierra University in Riverside, Calif. that he’s never used for professional purposes. During the COVID pandemic of 2020, he discovered his diploma in an unopened envelope while reorganizing some items that had been in storage.

His plan after college was to obtain a contractor’s license and work in the construction industry to fund his tournament-fishing passion. He didn’t swing a hammer much after that, though, as success in the Western Division of the EverStart (now Toyota) Series led directly to stardom on the FLW Tour. He won the EverStart Championship in 2004 and the FLW Championship (then known as the Forrest Wood Cup) in 2006. The latter victory garnered him $500,000.

Dubbed “Meter Man” during his FLW Tour days due to his quick assimilation to the advances in fish-finding electronics, he won four times on that circuit in addition to his FWC title. He also had a pair of big-money wins on the Western FLW Series during the four years of its existence (2007-10) and claimed victory at the 2015 Toyota Texas Bass Classic.

He’s finished outside the Top 20 on the Bass Pro Tour points list just once in its six-year history and was 18th in 2024. He placed among the Top 12 in three of the final four events last year on fisheries as diverse as Lake Okeechobee and the St. Lawrence River to sew up another REDCREST Championship berth.

Still, he’s not a big believer in momentum carrying over from the end of one campaign to the start of a new one.

“I don’t think that’s necessarily a factor; I think it’s more just your mindset in general,” he said. “I don’t think what happens this year has anything to do with last year. It’s really where you’re at in your own headspace that gets you going for the next season.

“I’d like to think I’m in a pretty good place – I’ve been exercising more and feeling healthier. If you’re physically fatigued, then mental fatigue is what’s coming next. If you can stay strong mentally, your decisions are going to be better.”

As far as immediate goals, he’d like to taste victory again – something he hasn’t done since that TTBC triumph a decade ago.

“I haven’t won a big one in a while and that’s kind of gone on longer than I ever would’ve expected,” he said. “I’ve had some close calls, but there hasn’t been a (BPT) event yet where I felt like I really had a chance to win on the final day. I’ve had high hopes, but then something changes and instead of thinking about winning, I’m battling to just finish 9th out of 10.

“Other than that, I just want to be relevant – keep cashing checks and qualifying for Heavy Hitters and REDCREST. If I can make a few Top 10s, I’ll at least give myself a chance to win a tournament.”

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