By John Johnson
BassFan Senior Editor
Mark Daniels Jr. posted 2nd- and 3rd-place finishes in two of the final three 2020 MLF Bass Pro Tour events to end up inside the Top 10 on the final points list. That's all well and good, but he hungers for something just a bit bigger.
"I'm bloodthirsty right now – I've come close a few times and I'm so ready to win," he said. "Top-10s are cool and they're so hard to come by that I'm ecstatic every time it happens, but I want one of those red trophies. I'm super-ready for that."
From a statistical perspective, this year's abbreviated campaign (shortened from eight events to five by the coronavirus pandemic) was the best of his seven as a full-time pro. A 48th-place showing in the opener at Lake Eufaula was his only placement outside the top half of the 80-angler field – that was a major disappointment since the lake is only about an hour's drive from his home in Tuskegee, Ala.
His severe underestimation of an incoming storm was his downfall in that one.
"That was the one I was looking forward to the most and I probably had my best practice all year with the exception of Sturgeon Bay," he said. "Then we got 5 inches of rain the day before the tournament and the area I was fishing – which had a beautiful, light stain to the water – rose 2 feet and turned orange overnight. I knew that wasn't going to work.
"To my detriment, I was feeling so good about the area I practiced in that I didn't spend any time elsewhere. Then as the tournament drew closer and I saw we were going to get some rain, I was thinking that a little wouldn't mess things up too bad, but it just continued to build and build and build until it was a freakin' monsoon. Unfortunately, I had nothing else."
Got Better From There
The 39-year-old Daniels bounced back with a 20th at Lake Okeechobee, and then a 3rd at Lake Fork just prior to the 12-week COVID-19 shutdown. When competition resumed in June, he turned in a middling performance in Heavy Hitters at Florida's Kissimmee Chain (39th) before concluding the season as the runner-up to Justin Lucas, a fellow Northern California native transplanted to Alabama, at Sturgeon Bay.
The finale in Wisconsin played out on one of the nation's top smallmouth fisheries. He's never lived anywhere near "smallmouth country," but he's done some of his best work as a pro on brown fish.
His list of bronzeback successes also includes his Bassmaster Elite Series win at South Dakota's Lake Oahe, along with 3rd- and 12th-place finishes at Lake St. Clair in Michigan and a 10th in an Angler of the Year Championship at Mille Lacs Lake in Minnesota.
When pressed for a reason for that, he doesn't have a ready answer.
"It's so weird and I really don't know what it is," said Daniels, who's climbed to No. 17 in the BassFan World Rankings. "One thing I can say is smallmouth are random as hell – you might find a bunch of them on some rocks one day, then they'll pack their bags and leave and you'll never see them again. I tend to fish kind of randomly, so I guess when you fish like that, sometimes you run into 'em.
"They can be very easy to catch once you find them, but finding them is the key. They're never in the same place twice. I love fishing for them and I love seeing those places on the schedule – the more the merrier for me."
More Tech Savvy Now
One area in which Daniels has improved significantly is the use of electronics.
"I've come a long way since I was dipping my rod in the water to see how deep it was – that was my depthfinder 7 or 8 years ago," he said. "The Garmins have opened my eyes to a lot more."
His proficiency has come via a lot of study on his part and also some assistance from traveling partner Jacob Wheeler, the world's top-ranked angler for the past year and a half.
"I'd put him at the top of the game for that," Daniels said. "He knows it all so well that he can even help me understand my brand. Not everybody has that kind of knowledge and not everybody would be willing to share it."
Notable
> Daniels is greatly looking forward to competing in the 2021 Redcrest Championship at Oklahoma's Grand Lake. "I got my career started on Grand (it was the site of his 2013 TBF National Championship victory) and I absolutely love it. With the tournament in February, there's no telling what might happen with the weather. If the weather's not too crazy, it should be good."
