The west of Florida has some of the most dedicated shark fisherman in the entire state and I have been talking to several fisherman from that side of Florida for the last few weeks about doing a Sharkathon/Gettogether and I'm trying to get everyone's opinion on the best place to do it.
THINGS TO CONSIDER
1)Beach access
2)Local Laws
3)Available Parking
4)Friendly locals
5)good shark fishing
I have thought of different places but each one has it's unique set of possible problems and advantages.Whereever we decide the final destination will be voted on by registered users on this site only and the place will be kept a secret to protect the sport from those who would like to cause us harm.
PLACES I'VE CONSIDERED
BOCA GRANDE
VENICE PIER
SKYWAY PIER
MANNASOTA BEACH
ANNA MARIA ISLAND (renting a hotel on the water)
RED COCONUT RV PARK (on the water)
open to any and all suggestions. Target date would be
Friday October 1st and Saturday October 2nd Night time fishing only would be a good Idea.
What do you think?
SOUTH FLORIDA SHARK CLUB -President SFSC-Founding Member est 1983 SFSC-Website Administrator BIG HAMMER SHARK TOURNAMENT -Founder Rene Memorial Sharkathon -Founder NMFS Shark Tagger
I'm down. 
I have to say Boca is a nice place Will. During the 2009 hammer challenge,there were up to a total of 4 teams fishing that beach.Only once did we see the law & that was to have one team take a tent down & to advise of no open fires on the beach. The residents there are very cool & love to come down & watch everybody rig up & drop baits. You can park rite up to the sea wall & only have to walk maybe 40 feet tops until your feet are wet. Not too long ago we headed down there & spent the week end rite where we were parked.I put a nice lemon on the beach that Friday nite & Saturday had multiple runs (including Travis) but no hook ups.Travis lives up that way & maybe he can advise of some good or better areas. Also,local pier around the corner provides a decent amount of cow nose rays also P.S. the no-see-um's are savages there at night!!!
I like the Boca idea also
Yea the no-see-um's are bad at night. Just have to watch the boats during the day.
I agree,we had to reel in around 6am because the boaters were shooting the beaches in search of the giant silver minnow. Should be slowing down a little now. Nice open beaches with no crab traps too. For the guys yaking baits,that 1rst sand bar is rough to get across & the 2nd one is even worse at times. that wk end we were there it was almost like glass out there saturday & sunday. Travis(cape haze) has posted some beautiful pictures of that beach as well at sunset
It is a very nice beach and holds some big sharks thats a fact
Yes indeed it is!! The pucker factor was high for me that friday eve when I was running baits. My sons yak is 9ft & in the process of running the last bait on my sons 14,I had 2 swells come up on the bow & side of me as long across as the yak I was sitting in. Saturday eve Travis came out with a friend of his & ran a bait on his 16. I was on the reel watching the whole time when travis totally froze,he got back to shore & informed me his yak got hit twice while running that bait 
Captainfncrazy, sorry to be dense, but did you mean he got hit twice by waves or sharks? 
ill fish where ever.
Fishergirl-You can take that up with him if you like lol,but he made it very clear to me when he made back to shore that it was a shark/sharks that hit his yak & to this day I haven't forgotten the look on his face when he was telling me
BOCA has my vote
i think it would be best held at boca because it has the best span of beach that is not gonna bother the locals. they are used to having large fishing tournaments held there. and i know the fishing there is hard to beat
I Say Boca Grande in search of that big tiger or huge Bull or Hammer and a great time 
i vote boca. i will prolly already be down there any ways.