Austin Felix took home the $1,000 BassTrakk Contingency Prize at the Berkley Bassmaster Elite at Neely Henry Lake. The BassTrakk prize is awarded to the angler whose BassTrakk weights are closest to his official weights. Over the first two days of competition Felix estimated his weight at 30-8 and his official weight ended up only 1 ounce off at 30-9.
“Good! I was trying to win it to be honest with you,” said Felix when told that he won the prize. “I really wasn’t thinking about it much until after Day 1 when I realized my weight was only 1 ounce off. I figured I might as well try to win the $1,000 prize at that point.”
Oftentimes, Felix just estimates his fish without weighing them because the urgency to get a bait back in the water is crucial. However, at Lake Guntersville he made sure to weigh all of his fish individually before entering them on BassTrakk.
“On Day 2 I told my Marshal not to put anything on BassTrakk until I got the fish on a scale first,” the reigning Rookie of the Year said. “A lot of times, time is of the essence early in the morning so I’ll just throw them in the livewell and guess the weight.
“I felt like I wasn’t in a time crunch at Guntersville, so I tried to focus on weighing them more.”
Here are the top 10 finishers at Lake Guntersville for the BassTrakk Contingency Prize, and how close each angler was to his official weight:
- Austin Felix: 0-1
- Jeff Gustafson: 0-4
- Chris Zaldain: 0-6
- Destin DeMarion: 0-7
- Hunter Shryock: 0-8
- Randy Pierson: 0-8
- Derek Hudnall: 0-10
- Hank Cherry: 0-11
- Scott Martin: 0-13
- Bob Downey: 0-13