Are you intrigued with South Florida's burgeoning recreational swordfish fishery? If so, you might want to join the Southeast Swordfish Club, which meets on the third Tuesday of every other month at the Howard Johnson's in Deerfield Beach. The next meeting is tentatively scheduled for April 20.

We account for less than one percent of the fish landed, but we've got more people watching us than the commercial fishermen. We better report [landings]. My theory is, we do report as many fish as we can so when the longliners petition for these fish in Washington, we've got numbers.

The Southeast Swordfish Club was formed to help educate, promote, and share knowlege of the most elusive and respected Billfish in the world. It is in the best interest of those who pursue the catch and/or release of Swordfish to place emphasis on conservation and show sportsmanship to our fellow fisherman, whether we are commerical or recreational fisherman. With the cooperation of all club members, our shared passion will establish the importance of this species to our local and national fisheries for now and years to come. Reporting our catches and non-catches through the club is one way we help to obtain better statistics to where we stand in the recreational swordfishing community.

The club was launched last spring by offshore fishing expert, captain Skip Smith and marine artist R.J. Boyle. Smith says the object is to exchange information on swordfishing and to encourage swordfishermen to report their landings (and their misses and releases) to NOAA Fisheries.

By law, anyone who lands a swordfish is required to report to NOAA Fisheries within 24 hours.

''They're an awesome fish,'' Smith said of swords. ``They're still my favorite.''

Download the application in PDF format.

Very Truly Yours,

Captain Skip Smith &Bobby Boyle
Southeast Swordfish Club