MDJ counts on a successful Stage Seven to earn a 2025 REDCREST qualification

Mark Daniels Jr. came into Minn Kota Stage Seven Presented by Humminbird on the St. Lawrence River in 45th place in the 2024 Fishing Clash Angler of the Year standings, needing to find a way to fish himself into the Top 40 to qualify for REDCREST 2025 in his home state of Alabama. Qualifying for REDCREST is the goal for every Bass Pro Tour competitor each year, and for better or worse, it serves as a benchmark for a “successful” season for most pros.  

Of course, a season’s success is measured on far more than just points and qualifications. As for MDJ and many of his peers, an opportunity to win REDCREST and its $300,000 purse is the goal they are working toward each year on the Bass Pro Tour. 

“Jacob (Wheeler) is a pretty much a math genius, and he crunched the numbers for me; it looks like I am exactly eight points out of the REDCREST right now,” Daniels said. “In the grand scheme of things, eight points is nothing – that could be one key fish throughout the season. One bite! But when you’re on the outside looking in, eight points is substantial. I’m trying not to stress out too bad, but this is an important event.” 

MDJ categorizes his 2024 season thus far as a rocky year, with some ups and a few more downs than he’d like. This is Daniels’ 11th year as a professional angler; at this point in his career, he knows the peaks and valleys are a very real part of tournament fishing.

If we turn the calendar back to last year, MDJ found himself in a very similar spot. He had a subpar season by his own standards but was able to rally in the back half of the schedule – including back-to-back Top 10s to finish the year – and qualify for REDCREST 2024 in 39th place. He’s been in this pressure-cooker of a position before, which has helped him prepare mentally for this event. 

“Bass fishing at this level is so much more mental than people realize, man,” Daniels said. “This whole season has been a mental battle for me. It’s not the techniques or equipment that I struggle with … it’s mindset and decision-making more than anything else. I’ve been thinking a lot about my mentality this week.  

“I know all I can do is catch as much as I can, and everything will pretty much fix itself. You can’t practice any different or fish to make up eight points. You have to go fish as hard as possible and try to hang as many fish on the SCORETRACKER® as you can. That’s how I’m approaching the St Lawrence River, and I’m fired up to get going.” 

Your favorite fishing websites may not have a whole lot of how-to articles on this topic, but managing your mindset is something anglers at the highest level are constantly working on. Momentum is a buzzword amongst pundits, and it absolutely has a huge influence in professional fishing — and whether it’s positive or negative, momentum starts with your attitude. 

Instead of hyper-focusing on the eight points he needs to make up, MDJ is thinking only about the next bite: The next 2-pound (or bigger) bass that will get him closer to his ultimate goal of another championship opportunity and meeting his standards of a successful season.