Team Toyota’s Mark Daniels Jr. did not have a great start to the 2024 REDCREST Championship on Lay Lake, Alabama. The Tuskegee University grad managed just three scorable bass, but a late afternoon conversation with his onboard MLF official put life in proper perspective.

“We all have bad days. I fished the way I wanted to, without forward-facing sonar, searching for shallow spawners with a wacky-rigged Senko. Practice was decent. But today, they weren’t having it. I feel pretty clueless right now, but I feel like my official, Bob put life in proper perspective at the end of the day,” says Daniels.

A full day on the water shared between a top pro angler and a ride-along official can certainly yield fellowship if the two are mutually receptive to meaningful conversation, and that’s exactly what precipitated between “MDJ” and Roswell, GA-based MLF official Bob Hubbard.

“With only 20 minutes left in this tough day, Bob was sharing how his 22-year-old son was forced to overcome a ton of adversity when an athletic injury changed the course of his life. He told me that fishing basically became a life raft for his son, and at that very moment, a bass smashed this black toad on the surface,” explains Daniels.

Neither Bear Bryant nor Nick Saban could have convinced Daniels or Hubbard the perfectly timed topwater bite to punctuate the life-changing feeling fishing gives us, was purely a coincidence. It was a goosebump-raising moment that both men easily labeled the best part of a tough day on the Coosa River.

“That bite put it all in perspective. This sport helped save Bob’s 22-year-old son in many ways. I just need to go out and have fun Friday, with a clear perspective on why I’m here in the first place,” concludes Daniels.

Funny how a plastic toad became the catalyst to the best moment on an otherwise tough day for the highly likeable Toyota pro.