SHELBY COUNTY, Ala. — The Shelby County Junior Anglers team of Aiden King and Dillyn Dill defended their home-lake advantage by winning the Mossy Oak Bassmaster Junior Series title on Lay Lake Saturday afternoon with 10 pounds, 15 ounces.
The Saraland Junior team of Colby Onderdonk and Dalton Kelly finished second with 9-13, and the Riverside Junior Bass team of Lainie Holbert and Sarah Swindle, who won last week’s Junior Series tournament at Saginaw Bay, took third with 8-6.
King and Dill anchored their bag with a 3-7 largemouth they caught first thing in the morning. The duo only caught five fish throughout the day on their home lake, but they ended up being the right five bites to win the tournament.
King said winning a tournament on their home lake was a special opportunity.
“I really like Lay,” King said. “I’ve been here my whole life and fished it my whole life. Having an opportunity to fish in these tournaments is amazing.”
Dill said they caught all of their fish using some of their favorite techniques; frogging and throwing a swim jig.
Boat captain Shannon King said that while the fish didn’t bite like he thought they would, he was proud of the effort from the two anglers.
“It has been like that all year,” he said. “They have had good tournaments and some rough ones. They caught two good fish to start with. The spots didn’t bite like I thought they would. It got tough.
“When they got the fourth one, they perked up a little bit. When they got the fifth one, they said ‘We don’t care if we win or not, we’ve got five.’ That was the goal for them.”
Parker Batts and Brody Jones from Jefferson County landed the Big Bass of the Tournament, earning $100 with their 3-11 largemouth.
With the regular season complete, qualifying teams will set their sights on the 2021 Mossy Oak Fishing Bassmaster Junior National Championship at the Carroll County 1000 Acre Recreational Lake in Huntingdon, Tenn., scheduled for Oct. 8-9.
The tournament was hosted by Discover Shelby.