Ed Loughran won the BassTrakk Contingency Prize of $1,000 at the Farmers Insurance Bassmaster Elite at St. Lawrence River. If this sounds like a reoccurring theme, it’s because it is. The Virginia pro has won the contingency prize three times in the inaugural season of the award. The prize goes to the angler whose BassTrakk estimates are closest to his official weights. Over the first two days of competition at the St. Lawrence River, Loughran’s estimated weight on BassTrakk was 28-15 which was spot on to his official weight.
Although this isn’t the first time Loughran has won the prize, this is the first time that he has won with a perfect weight estimate. In his previous two times winning the award, Loughran was just 2 ounces off.
The full-time attorney is known to be one of the most intelligent anglers on the Elite Series. It showed early on this season at the St. Johns River when he calculated the difference of his personal scale that he keeps in the boat to the official B.A.S.S. scales.
“I’ve weighed my fish in the boat for the last 20 years of tournament fishing,” Loughran said. “But until this prize came along I always sandbagged a little on what went into BassTrakk. Once I saw that B.A.S.S. was giving away $1,000 I decided I was going to figure out a way to win it.”
Over the course of the 2021 Bassmaster Elite Series season, Loughran was never more than 3 ounces off of his official weight in tournaments where he was eligible to win the prize. To be eligible to win the prize, an angler must catch a limit on both Days 1 and 2 of competition.
Loughran decided early on this season that it was well worth the time and effort to be accurate in his BassTrakk estimates. His decision paid off in 2021 after winning a total of $3,000 in BassTrakk Contingency Prize money.
“I like this prize because it’s one thing in a fishing tournament that’s pretty much in our control,” said Loughran. “It just takes an extra minute or two a day.”
Here are the top 10 finishers at the St. Lawrence River for the BassTrakk Contingency Prize, and how close each angler was to his official weight:
- Ed Loughran – 0
- Bryan New – 0-2
- Randy Pierson – 0-2
- Wes Logan – 0-3
- Derek Hudnall – 0-4
- John Crews – 0-5
- Brandon Cobb – 0-10
- Harvey Horne – 0-11
- Yusuke Miyazaki – 0-12
- Scott Martin – 0-12