BALTIMORE, MD—A 20-year-old Baltimore City college student has become the 17th person to earn a Master Angler Milestone Award since the Maryland Department of Natural Resources’ (DNR) FishMaryland program began in 2019. Roman Dombrowski achieved the milestone with a 66-inch bluefin tuna caught off Ocean City.

Dombrowski, an Environmental Studies major at Salisbury University, said he started fishing at the age of four with his father in Ocean City. He gained an ample supply of fishing knowledge working at Tochterman’s Fishing Tackle in Baltimore City, which he described as “the best tackle shop in the world.”

Dombrowski’s qualifying catches included a 17-inch bullhead catfish, a 23-inch sheepshead, a 39-inch carp, a 34-inch bluefish, a 47-inch striped bass, a 91-inch thresher shark, a 70-inch sand tiger shark, a 43-inch red drum caught from the surf at Assateague Island, a 23-inch largemouth bass, and the 66-inch bluefin tuna.

Dombrowski said fishing and the outdoors are very important to him, and he chose his college major in hopes of ensuring that future generations can experience the same wonders of the outdoors that he has.

This article was written with the assistance of AI and reviewed by a human editor.

Photo: Master Angler Roman Dombrowski with a trophy sized red drum that was released. The fish was 43 inches long and caught from the surf at Assateague Island. Photo courtesy of Roman Dombrowski/MD DNR.