Mark Daniels Jr. is sitting on top of the points in the Rayovac Series Southeast Division heading into the tournament on Lake Seminole, which starts Thursday, and he was spending Wednesday trying to figure out how to hold onto his slim 2-point lead over Trevor Fitzgerald of Belleview, Fla.

“I’ve had a really tough practice so far,” Daniels said late Tuesday evening. “I am not familiar with the lake; it’s my first time here, so I am trying to figure it all out.”

Daniels, a transplanted Californian now living in Tuskegee, Ala., said the shallow water bite – fishing grass lines, throwing topwater and flipping shallow cover – was not panning out for him “like I would like it to. So, he planned to move deep Wednesday in search of some offshore fish.

Daniels, who won the TBF National Championship in 2013, is now “Living the Dream” of professional bass fishing. That win included the use of a wrapped Chevy Silverado and Ranger Boat, as well as entry fees into the 2014 FLW Tour season. 

He finished well down in the standings in 2014, but this year he already has a top 10 finish on the tour and he has two top 10s in Rayovac competition, finishing 4^th at Lake Okeechobee in January and 8^th at Lake Guntersville in March.

Once he had the opportunity become a pro angler, he jumped at it, leaving his job as a full-time Agriculture Biologist for Soloano County in California and moving to Tuskegee to try to earn a living fishing.

“I am now full-time fishing, living in Tuskegee, Ala., and getting adjusted to doing it full time,” Daniels said. “I was born and raised in the Bay Area and spent my entire life there except for five years going to school in Tuskegee.”

Daniels explained that his older sister, who now lives in Birmingham, graduated from Tuskegee University and convinced him to come there for college – a good choice, he said.

“I was not thinking about going to college at first, but she talked me into coming to Tuskegee. I was interested in environmental science and she just helped me along the way.”

Besides a college degree, which led to a good job, Daniels said he found something else very valuable in Tuskegee – his fiance.

“She lives in Tuskegee and knowing I would be on the road so much, it was just easier for her to have some family support while I was fishing,” he said. “Pro fishing is different, tough at times, being away from family. But it is an absolute dream for me, something I have been striving for as a child.”

Pros will fish for a top award of $40,000 plus a Ranger Z518C with a 200-horsepower Evinrude or Mercury outboard if Ranger Cup guidelines are met. Co-anglers will cast for a top award consisting of a Ranger Z117 with 90-horsepower Evinrude or Mercury outboard and $5,000 if Ranger Cup guidelines are met.

The Rayovac FLW Series consists of five divisions – Central, Northern, Southeast, Texas and Western. Each division consists of three tournaments and competitors will be vying for valuable points in each division that could earn them the opportunity to fish in the Rayovac FLW Series Championship. The 2015 Rayovac FLW Series Championship will be held Oct. 29-31 on the Ohio River in Paducah, Ky.

FLW Rayovac Series – Southeast #3

May 21-23, 2015

Lake Seminole

Bainbridge Boat Basin

www.flwoutdoors.com