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SANDUSKY, Ohio – The first few hours of Suzuki Marine Stage 7 presented by B&W Trailer Hitches did not start how Mark Daniels Jr. envisioned. MDJ spent his days of official practice scouring the behemoth that is the western basin of Lake Erie, and he felt he had a solid gameplan that would help him kickoff a good event.

He started the first period targeting largemouth, as he figured they would be more active in the morning and easier to catch. When the first period ended, he had only caught two scoreable largemouth to add to the SCORETRACKER.

MDJ described his next decision as “panicked”, when he elected to use forward-facing-sonar (FFS) during the second period. Since the Bass Pro Tour implemented the mixed format last year, MDJ has only ever used FFS in the first or last period of the day. After such a slow start, Daniels Jr. ran to the biggest school of smallmouth he found in practice in hopes he could easily pick off some fish with his electronics and climb the leaderboard.

When the second period ended, MDJ had caught a single bass, effectively wasting his FFS period.

“You hear it all the time, but bass fishing really is a game of decision making, and apparently I made all the bad ones this morning,” Daniels Jr. said. “I thought I’d have a chill morning, you know? Catch some largemouth, calm my nerves… but, nope, I wasn’t having any of that. That ended up being one of my most stressful tournament days of the year.”

The wheels could have easily fallen off the bus for MDJ at this moment, and they nearly did. MDJ admitted he was scrambling and didn’t really know what to do in the third period, but the twelve-year professional tournament veteran made a move and found himself three pounds out of the cut line when the third period ended.

Mark’s late-day bounce back puts him in a great position to qualify for Saturday’s Knockout Round, which would lock up a 2027 REDCREST qualification and give Daniels Jr. a great chance to qualify for The Champions tournament this fall on Old Hickory.

MDJ’s first day on Lake Erie is a perfect illustration of the volatile highs and lows of bass fishing.

When he backed his Tundra down the Shelby Street Public Boat Launch this morning and his boat slipped into the water, Mark thought he had a buttoned up gameplan for an uneventful day. Fast forward a few hours and MDJ had exhausted plans A, B, C, and D.

This is where experience and a strong mind can be an angler’s saving grace. Instead of spinning out, Mark settled in.

The lack of success Mark had through the first two periods required the California native to make some adjustments and try something different. Without the aid of FFS, Daniels Jr. still opted to target smallmouth to end his day, and he mined enough bronze gold to keep himself in contention heading into day two.

Even though smallmouth ultimately saved MDJ’s day in the afternoon, he still had some choice words for the world-class smallies this fishery is known for.

“I can scratch my head all I want to, but the reality is that those smallmouth simply were not there in my main area anymore,” MDJ offered. “Smallies will burn you, man, they love to move on the Great Lakes. Nowadays with ‘scope (FFS) we can see them if they are roaming around or something. But that wasn’t the case on some of what I thought were my best spots; the fish just vanished.”

MDJ referenced two other tournaments in this part of the country where smallmouth and their tendency to use their tales had burned him, and a third where it actually worked out to his benefit.

His message was clear: Great Lakes smallmouth are here today and gone tomorrow.

That’s the kind of thought that chews at angler as they do tackle the night before day two of the qualifying round where the stakes couldn’t be much higher.

Stage 7 is the final regular-season event for the Bass Pro Tour, with all 51 anglers battling for something. Some are focused on end of the year awards, others on a REDCREST qualification, or The Champions tournament, and fighting for their spot on the Bass Pro Tour for 2027.

The pressure is palpable and the drama will be on full display on the MLFNOW! Livestream the next few days. As for Mark Daniels Jr., his goal is to catch bass early and often tomorrow, ideally earning himself the stress-free day he was hoping for on day one.

“I was the only angler in the area I fished this afternoon, so I’m planning to lock-in on that area tomorrow,” MDJ explained. “My goal is to catch 15-scoreables, by any means necessary. I’m going to target smallmouth, but I was reminded today, those jokers like to move. That means I have to keep on moving with them.”