When Lucy Moore, 12, was asked who is better at fishing — her or her dad — she did not hesitate to claim her crown. 

"Me," Lucy replied immediately during an interview with As It Happens guest host Catherine Cullen. 

Her father, Nick Perez, paused for a moment when asked the same question, but ultimately conceded that his daughter had long surpassed him in fishing prowess.

"He doesn't have a Master," Lucy quipped.

She's referring to Maryland's prestigious Master Angler Milestone award, the state's top fishing prize, which she snagged in May.

Only 11 others have claimed the title since its inception in 2019, and they're all grown men. That makes Lucy the state's youngest, and only female, Master Angler.

"I really felt like I did something that was like a really great accomplishment for me," she said. 

The 'black belt' of Maryland fishing

The award is part of the FishMaryland program, launched five years ago to encourage people to explore the state's waterways and diversity of fish species, says Erik Zlokovitz, recreational fisheries outreach co-ordinator for the Maryland Department of Natural Resources.

There are several prizes that anglers can claim, he says, but the Master Anger is, by far, the hardest. It requires catching 10 different species of "trophy-sized" fish. 

The eligible fish come from all over the state. Some are freshwater and some are ocean-dwellers. Some are native and some are invasive. Some are catch and release, and others are keepers.

"I call it the black belt of the Fish Maryland program," Zlokovitz said. 

Zlokovitz, who has a daughter himself, says it was a pleasure to see Lucy claim the title, which earned her a certificate, an aquarium tour and some new fishing gear from Bass Pro Shops. 

The fishing community, he says, has largely been supportive, but he admits there's been "a little tinge of jealousy" from some more experienced anglers who have thus far fallen short of the prize. 

"She's a young girl who out-fished a lot of older male anglers that thought they kind of dominated the sport," he said with a chuckle.

Lucy has been hooked on the sport since she was six years old and tried fly fishing for the first time.

"I definitely do love fishing," she said. "Everything about it."

One of her favourite things about fishing, she says, is exploring the outdoors and the different habitats fish call home. When she grows up, she says she wants to be a marine biologist.

"Sometimes you gotta bring the fish out to do some studying," she said.

Her father says the fish seem to just come to her. 

"She has this knack for just coming across unique things," Perez said. "I've never seen one person catch so many trophy quality fish by sheer happenstance."

"By mistake!" Lucy piped in.

"Like half the fish for her Master Angler, she was just goofing around with some little fish — just, you know, slow day, trying to catch something — and next thing you know, she, like, turns around and goes, 'Hey, look what I caught!'" Perez said. "You're like, oh my God, where'd that come from?"

Reeling in a shark bigger than her

But it's not all luck. Lucy also relishes what she calls "the fight of the fish" — the fierce battle to reel one in once it takes hold.

Her best fight, she says, wasn't with one of the fish she caught for the Master Angler award. "It's the one where I caught my shark," she said.

For her 11th birthday, she and her dad travelled to Broadkill Beach in Delaware on a shark fishing expedition. Lucy reeled in a two-metre-long sand tiger shark from the shore, a feat that took 30 minutes. (She promptly released it afterwards.)

"I got in the water with it," Lucy said. "That was definitely one really cool and hard fight."

And where was Dad when Lucy was in the water wrestling with a shark?

"I was just on the sideline cheering her on," Perez said.

Lucy got some help from Perez's friend, a fishing guide, to support the sand tiger's weight while she reeled it in, her dad says. 

But her award-winning Maryland fish, he says, were all hers — no matter what anyone says.

"Somebody's always going to be a hater. It's just the way it is. Some people say, 'Oh, there's no way she did this,'" Perez said.

"But so many people know who she is in the community that we have here. Everybody comes to her defence, like, 'No, you don't know this kid. You've never seen her out there. Like, don't assume her dad's doing this. She's doing it all.'"

While her skill is all her own, Lucy says having her dad by her side is an integral component of a good fishing trip. 

"When I'm fishing, one of the best parts is doing it with my dad," she said. "It's like our special thing."