Straughn Junior Varsity fishing team makes final stop of season

On Saturday, March 29, the Straughn Junior High Bass Fishing Team made their fourth and final stop of the 2025 tournament season with the Alabama Bass Nation High School trail at Beeswax Landing on Lay Lake.

Lay Lake is a 12,000-acre reservoir located thirty-five minutes south of Birmingham off I-65 and 15 miles south of Columbiana in east-central Alabama.

Lay Lake borders St. Clair, Talladega, Shelby, Coosa, and Chilton counties. The primary uses for this reservoir are hydroelectric generation and recreation. Lay Lake is popular for tournament fishing and boating recreation.

Since being impounded in 1914 by the Alabama Power Company, Lay Lake is best known for its spotted bass and largemouth bass fishing. A high quality largemouth bass and spotted bass fishery exists at Lay Reservoir.

Largemouth bass up to 18-inches are abundant and with moderate numbers of larger bass. Spotted bass up to 18-inches are very abundant with moderate numbers of larger fish. The best fishing for largemouth bass occurs in creeks and shallow water sloughs. Anglers targeting spotted bass should fish riverine portions of the lake.

All three teams fished on Lake Martin two teams weighed in fish. There was a total of 69 boats participating in the Junior division.

The team of Lane Landon/Landon Nash finished 22nd with three fish weighing in 5.08 pounds.

The team of Gavin Odom/Walker Faust finished 38th with one fish weighing in 2.93 pounds.

All three Junior division teams’ scores for the year qualified them to compete in the Alabama Bass Nation High School State Championship tournament on Neely Henry on May 3, 2025.