By John Johnson
BassFan Senior Editor


Welcome to the real world, Mark Daniels Jr.

Daniels had a free ride on last year's FLW Tour via the "Living the Dream" package that came courtesy of his victory at the 2013 TBF National Championship. That's history now, though, and the California native will have to make his own way if he wants to remain in the sport.

He wants to – real bad. He's relocated his entire family to Alabama in order to minimize travel expenses for 2015 and is determined to put the disastrous conclusion to last season behind him and start anew this year.

"It's very scary," he admitted this week. "Sponsorships have been few and far between so far, but I've managed to obtain a few.

"Trying to do this pro bass fishing thing is the hardest thing I've ever done in my life, but it's what I want. I wouldn't change any of it for the world. I've put everything into fishing and my wife's a stay-at-home mom, so there's a little bit of pressure there."

Rough Go at the End

Daniels, a former agricultural biologist for Solano County in the San Francisco Bay area, cashed checks in the first three events of his rookie season before collapsing in the second half of the campaign. His slide started at Beaver Lake, which is a dreaded venue by many anglers – even those who've been there many times and have seen it under the full gamut of conditions.

His 102nd-place showing there was the first of three to close out the campaign.

"The surprising thing for me was I had probably the best practice of my life," he said. "That's one of the things you learn as a rookie, though. You talk to other anglers and they tell you that you can never catch them in the same place twice there, and I learned it first-hand.

"Those fish I was catching in practice had literally vanished. I couldn't believe it."

He saved his worst for last – a 142nd-place stinker in the finale at Kentucky Lake. There were extenuating circumstances for that one, however, as he was inside the Top 50 after day 1 but never made a cast on day 2 due to a mechanical issue.

He's mentally filed away everything he encountered – good and bad – in the hope that he'll benefit from it going forward.

"The No. 1 thing I learned in my rookie year is I have to follow my gut instincts and not second-guess myself. Most importantly, I have to stay away from the dock talk. No matter where you're at, there's always rumors about who's catching what and where.

"I have to put all of that out of my mind and go do my own thing."

Triple-A Terror

While Daniels has yet to experience a lot of success at the Tour level, he's been tearing it up in Rayovacs all over the country. His strong performances in lower-tier competition allowed him to take home $140,000 in 16 starts.

Last week, fishing out of a borrowed boat (he sold the one he used last year and has yet to pick up his new one), he took 4th in a Southeastern Division event at Lake Okeechobee. Last year he notched a 7th at a Northern derby at Lake Champlain and took the No. 1 slot in a Western event on his home water, the California Delta.

The Delta triumph was big as it provided him with a financial foundation for the upcoming season.

"It was worth $40,000 plus a boat, and I was able to sell the boat for $35,000," he said. "For me, that was freaking huge. All of (his lower-level winnings) are adding up and it's keeping me going."

When the Tour season gets under way in March, he'll feel like a rookie again in one respect as Beaver will be the lone venue he has any experience at. It's his nature, though, to put a positive spin on everything.

"It'll be a challenge, but one of the things I live for is trying to figure out a place in X amount of time. As long as there's tournaments on the water, I'll be happy. I've always got the chance that I might run into a giant somewhere."

Notable

> Daniels is living in Tuskegee, Ala., which is the hometown of his wife, Taneisha. It's about a 15-minute drive from Lake Martin, a half-hour from the Alabama River and 2 hours from Lake Eufaula.

> He'll run a Rat-L-Trap wrap this year.