Teen Fisherman Earns Master Angler Milestone Award From Maryland DNR

HARFORD COUNTY, MD — Nathan Choinski of Churchville has earned a Master Angler Milestone Award from the Maryland Department of Natural Resources’ FishMaryland program.

A high schooler, Choinski has become the 20th Master Angler since the program began in 2019. The award recognizes recreational anglers who catch 10 trophy-sized fish of different species in Maryland.

Choinski started fishing during the COVID pandemic after his friends encouraged him to fish with them, the DNR shared, and they also told him about the Master Angler program. The group was fishing a small pond and worked on catching award-sized bluegill sunfish and pumpkinseed sunfish.

As Choinski began enjoying fishing more and more, his dad started taking him and his friends fishing at other locations. The lower Susquehanna River and the Conowingo Dam pool became his favorite location, and he caught many of his award fish there. He likes casting paddletails and other lures to catch striped bass, smallmouth bass, walleye, Chesapeake Channa and blue catfish in those locations. He also caught one small flathead catfish there, the DNR reported.

"An award-winning striped bass is the favorite fish he has caught; it gave him a long fight before he could bring it in," the DNR stated.

Choinski’s qualifying catches, in order, were:

• Pumpkinseed – 10.2 inches
• Bluegill – 11.1 inches
• Hickory shad – 18.1 inches
• Striped bass – 43 inches
• Smallmouth bass – 20 inches
• Chesapeake Channa (northern snakehead) – 31 inches
• Blue catfish – 40.5 inches
• Crappie – 15 inches
• Largemouth bass – 21 inches
• Bullhead catfish – 15 inches

“The thing I like most about fishing in Maryland is the diversity of all the different species that you can catch from the mountains of Garrett County to the Chesapeake Bay and Atlantic Ocean,” Choinski said.

More information about the Master Angler Milestone Award and the FishMaryland program, visit the program’s website.