For the first time during the 2022 Bassmaster Elite Series season, Ed Loughran has won the BassTrakk Contingency Prize at the Guaranteed Rate Bassmaster Elite at Santee Cooper Lakes. During the inaugural season of the prize in 2021, the Virginia pro won the award in three different tournaments.
The BassTrakk prize goes to the angler whose BassTrakk estimates are closest to his official tournament weight over the course of the first two days. Loughran was spot on with his estimates. His official weight for the first two days was 27-7, and that’s exactly what his BassTrakk estimates reflected as well.
On Day 1 of competition, Loughran was a few ounces off on his estimation, but on Day 2 he was able to adjust his estimates to come out with a perfect 27-7.
“I treat it like it’s a little tournament within the tournament for $1,000,” Loughran said about the prize. “I’ve got a little process I do with every keeper that I catch – I catch them, I weight them, I put a tag on them, I put them in the livewell and I enter the weight into BassTrakk.
“Last year I won $3,000 from the prize, and that’s almost a tournament entry. It’s not insignificant if you can win it a few times.”
Over the course of the 2021 season, Loughran figured out how much his personal scale was off compared to the official B.A.S.S. scales, and adjusted the weights to make them equivalent to the official weight.
Here’s the BassTrakk Contingency top 10, and how far off each was off from his official weight.
• Ed Loughran: 0
• Brandon Lester: 0-2
• Austin Felix: 0-3
• Carl Jocumsen: 0-8
• Pat Schlapper: 1-1
• Steve Kennedy: 1-2
• David Williams: 1-2
• John Crews: 1-4
• Tyler Rivet: 1-7
• Scott Martin: 1-11