Chris Rutland And Coby Carden Win The Abt On Lay Lake With 20.60 Lbs-Take Home $10,000

COLUMBIANA — When Coby Carden and Chris Rutland’s fishing plans turned to lemons Saturday, June 7, they made lemonade as they won the Alabama Bass Trail South Division Tournament on Lay Lake.
Carden of Shelby and Rutland of Wetumpka had planned to fish river ledges, but could never find they bite they were looking for in the deep water. On a whim, they decided to try fishing shallow Saturday morning and wound up spending the entire day near the shore en route to winning the $10,000 first prize with a five-fish limit that weighed 20.60 pounds. Their catch was anchored by a 5.20-pounds largemouth.
Nick Harris and Walker Kent finished in second place with 19.03 pounds. They won $5,000.  Taylor Watkins and Ronald Tidwell won $4,000 for finishing third with 17.04 pounds.
Wes King and Gage King tied with Ralph Mosley and Terry Stevens for fourth place with 17 pounds to round out the top five.
“We didn’t have a good practice and really didn’t have anything going when we started fishing. So we went shallow and started getting bites,” Carden said. “We kept getting good bites shallow, so we stayed shallow.”
Carden said they used a variety of baits to catch their fish.”We were throwing a frog, swimming a jig, doing a little bit of everything.”
Nick Harris said he and Kent caught their fish flipping soft plastics.
Watkins and Tidwell used also flipped for much of the day.
“We were junk fishing,” Watkins said. “We played around all day and flipped a lot of different baits.”
Also in the top 10 were Foster Bradley and Jeremy Christian, Rex Chambers and Brent Crow, Robert Davis and Billy Reynolds, Matthew McSweeney and Rod McSweeney, Brian Graham and Johney Weaver.
Angel Garcia and Michael Hatton had lunker, a 6.13 pounds largemouth.Garcia caught the bass using a June bug colored Gambler BB Cricket.
“We hadn’t done much all day until right at the end when we pulled up in a grass mat and started flipping,” Garcia said. “I flipped that BB Cricket into the back of the grass. The fish tugged, then I tugged and the war was on. We caught a couple of more good fish in the same grass mat.”
The tournament concluded the regular season for the South Division anglers.
The final tournament for the North Division is June 21 on Logan Martin Lake in Pell City.
The top 50 teams from each division will advance to the Alabama Bass Trail Tournament Series Championship Oct. 10-11 on Smith Lake in Jasper.
The top six teams from the South Division and top eight from the North Division advance to the B.A.S.S. Team Championship Dec. 9-13 on DeGray Lake in Bismark, Ark

1 CHRIS RUTLAND-COBY CARDEN 5/5 20.60 5.2 20.60 200 $10,000
2 NICK HARRIS-WALKER KENT 5/5 19.03 5.67 19.03 199 $5,000
3 TAYLOR WATKINS-RONALD TIDWELL 5/5 17.04 4.95 17.04 198 $4,000
4 WES KING-GAGE KING 5/5 17.00 17.00 197 $3,000
4 RALPH MOSELEY-TERRY STEVENS 5/5 17.00 4.21 17.00 197 $2,000
6 FOSTER BRADLEY-JEREMY CHRISTIAN 5/5 16.84 5.89 16.84 195 $1,000
7 REX CHAMBERS-BRENT CROW 5/5 16.44 16.44 194 $900
7 ROBERT DAVIS-BILLY REYNOLDS 5/5 16.44 16.44 194 $800
9 MATTHEW MCSWEENEY-ROD MCSWEENEY 5/5 16.40 16.40 192 $700
10 BRIAN GRAHAM-JOHNEY WEAVER 5/5 15.76 15.76 191 $600
11 BEN ETHEREDGE-PATRICK CURRIE 5/5 15.73 15.73 190 $500
12 MORGAN BROWN-MICHEAL ROUSH 5/5 15.72 15.72 189 $500
13 WARREN WYMAN-DANIELLE ORRILL 5/5 15.50 15.50 188 $500
14 PAM MARTIN-WELLS-STEVEN WELLS 5/4 16.36 1 15.36 187 $500
15 NICHOLAS TURNER-JOE LAY 5/5 14.98 5.26 14.98 186 $500
16 KEITH DEES-TOMMY WALLEY 5/5 14.89 14.89 185 $500
17 JESTON ANDERSON-ROBBIE ROBINSON 5/5 14.86 14.86 184 $500
18 MICHAEL HATTEN-ANGEL GARCIA 5/5 14.81 * 6.13 14.81 183 $500
19 RICKIE KNIGHT-RANDALL CARTER 5/5 14.76 14.76 182 $500
20 JONATHAN PERRITT-JASON KRASNOSKY 5/5 14.61 14.61 181 $500
21 LARRY BULLOCK-JEREMY LOWERY 5/5 14.58 14.58 180
22 CLAY MADISON-KYLE PATTERSON 5/5 14.56 14.56 179
22 MIKE MCCULLARS-STEVE WINSLETT 4/3 15.56 1 14.56 179
24 JAMES OSWALT-LINDA OSWALT 5/5 14.15 14.15 177
25 MIKE CHAVERS-JOSH CHAVERS 5/5 14.06 14.06 176
26 KENNETH CHAMBERS-ELI CHAMBERS 5/5 14.04 14.04 175
27 BRYTON NIXON-ADAM BAIN 5/5 13.83 13.83 174
28 KARL YOUNGBLOOD-JAMES MCMON 5/5 13.80 13.80 173
29 JERRY CASEY-RANDY CASEY 5/5 13.78 4.08 13.78 172
30 CHASE BENSON-CHRIS MINOR 5/5 13.66 13.66 171
31 MICHAEL PRESLEY-LAMAR INGRAM 5/5 13.56 5.05 13.56 170
32 SHAYE BAKER-BEN WELDON 5/5 13.32 13.32 169
33 BRIAN STIFFLER-CHRIS MASON 5/5 13.19 13.19 168
34 JAMES RICHERSON-CRAIG HAMILTON 5/5 13.13 13.13 167
35 MICHAEL HARDIN-MIKE HARDIN 5/5 13.11 13.11 166
36 ERNIE FAULKNER-KEN WALTERS 5/5 12.96 12.96 165
37 MATT VANZANT-JOEY VANZANT 5/5 12.55 12.55 164
38 JOHN POLLARD-DALLAS WELDON 5/5 12.49 4.08 12.49 163
39 RICKY SMITH-RICKY SMITH 4/4 12.47 12.47 162
40 ALLEN YARBOROUGH-SHANE UNDERWOOD 5/4 13.44 1 12.44 161
41 FLYNN GERALD-SAM ROY 5/5 12.40 12.40 160
42 SCOTT LUSTER-BRANNON JONES 5/5 12.24 12.24 159
43 TOMMY PEGUES-TYLER STROCK 5/5 12.06 12.06 158
44 DAVID CAYLOR-ALLEN HAYES 5/5 11.82 11.82 157
45 NICHOLAS HILL-JEREMY HEADLEY 5/5 11.74 4.86 11.74 156
46 SAMBO FISH-SAM FISH 5/5 11.70 11.70 155
47 DALE WESTMORELAND-LANCE YOUNGBLOOD 5/5 11.63 11.63 154
48 DANNY GRISSETT-TONY WILSON 5/5 11.61 11.61 153
49 KYLE TINDOL-RICKY BAKER 5/5 11.29 11.29 152
50 KENNY SMITH-JAMES PURVIS 5/5 11.25 11.25 151