A story coming from Maryland celebrates the depths of a young girl’s talents, as a 12-year-old fishing enthusiast received honors from the state.
Dubbed the “black belt of angling” Lucy Moore was awarded the Master Angler Award after a year of chasing rare catches with her dad.
Moore has been interested in fishing since age 3 when she earned the nickname the “Blue Gill Queen,” owing to an early childhood knack for catching the species. She loves exploring the outdoors and learning about the fish she’s chasing.
However, it’s much more than a recreational pursuit for her, and she’s darn good at it.
Reporting on Moore’s award, the Washington Post recounts a story of a fishing trip in the rain and fog on a lake in Kentucky as the girl and her father, Nick Perez, sought a rare and peculiar fish called a Musky.
On the last of 3 days of fishing, in the rain and muck, a tug on her line led Moore to reel in a 24-inch, or “trophy size” musky, one of the 60 different species one can seek to catch to become certified as a Master Angler in the state of Maryland.
“It was all that hard work: We’re talking almost 30 hours of fishing for that one fish and she was the one to catch it, which made it extra special,” Perez told the Post. “There’s guys I know that are 60 years old who have never caught one. And at the time she was almost 9.”
The FishMaryland program from the Maryland Department of Natural Resources manages the Master Angler certification as a way of celebrating the freshwater diversity of Maryland’s rivers, streams, and lakes. To earn the award, one must catch a trophy-size fish of 10 different species.
“Typically, people focus on two or three species and she’s got 10 that are all trophy size so it’s doubly impressive,” said Erik Zlokovitz, the recreational fisheries outreach coordinator for the Department of Natural Resources, who described the Master Angler Award as the “black belt” of fishing. “She’s probably outfishing many adults that are older and more experienced. It’s definitely more species of fish than I’ve caught over the past few years.”
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Her award was presented during a ceremony at Bass Pro Shops, the beloved American outdoors outlet that presented Moore with custom fishing gear, a $250 gift card, and an opportunity to feed the fish in the tank—something she especially enjoyed owing to her desire to become a marine biologist.
She is an official advocate at Kids Can Fish, a non-profit founded by another young girl who believed it should be encouraged more among children.
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Driven in everything she does, Perez says, the honor roll student has already scoped out top marine biology programs in the US, and has her eyes set on the University of Miami.
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