By DREW GRANTHUM/Sports Editor

COLUMBIANA — Shelby resident Coby Carden proved to the field of the Alabama Bass Trail there’s nothing quite like knowing the lay of the land —or in this case, the lay of the lake.

Carden and teammate Chris Rutland took the Alabama Bass Trail’s Southern Division Lay Lake Tournament overall championship on June 7. The duo took home the trophy with a combination five-fish limit that weighed 20.60 pounds. The bulk of the weight limit came form 5.2-pound largemouth that gave the team over a pound advantage over the second place duo.

The trail, which features some of the top in-state and out-of-state anglers, visits lakes across the state. Lay Lake makes up one of 11 stops for the tour, which was designed to pit the best Alabama bass anglers against the best from out of state, per tournament officials.

It marked the final event for the South Division, as the anglers await their Northern counterparts to finish their season June 21 on Logan Martin Lake. The top 50 fishing duos from each division then move on to face each other in the series championship, held Oct. 10-11 on Smith Lake in Jasper.

Carden and Rutland took home $10,000 for their efforts, and found themselves in second place in overall standings for the South Division with 886 points. They trail the leaders by just three points.