Sharkathon

Sharkathon is a 501 (c) (3) non-profit organization, presenting one of the largest Catch-Photo-Relea
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We have seen worldwide shark populations declining at an alarming rate, and it is possible that we might witness the extinction of several shark species in our lifetimes if we humans don't change our ways. There are many factors at work here, many of which are outside our control, but we can do our part to preserve this natural resource for future generations by promoting catch-and-release and by

educating fellow anglers about the merits of this format. Catch-and-release tournaments provide a good medium for education, and can help change the practices of anglers who target sharks and other species. When many of us started fishing for sharks on Padre Island, we were championed by other catch-and-release shark fishermen, and we learned how to successfully catch, photograph and release sharks from the beach. During its existence the original Texas Shark Rodeo started by "Big" Lou McGeachan was another big influence on nearly all shark fishermen in the state. Now, through Sharkathon, we would like to spread the message of conservation to a wider base of anglers. It takes a little time to teach a person why it is important to release sharks, but once the seed has been planted, many anglers see the value and participate willingly. We encourage like-minded anglers to join us in spreading the word of conservation, recruiting new members into the world of catch and release. Sharkathon is a 501 (c) (3) non-profit organization created by surf fishermen for surf fishermen. Several of us sat on the beach one night and conceptualized what is now a proven format, a tournament where the only thing taken from the sea is a memory and a photograph. After several years of operation, we are realizing the dream we had that night on Padre Island. An idea has been transformed into a successful tournament series with substantial payouts and great prizes awarded to those who participate. Since 2004, our participants have risen from 50 to a self-imposed capacity of 850, and our prizes have increased from $2,500.00 to more than $80,000 in cash and prizes. Sharkathon serves as a fund-raising entity for the several non-profit and educational organizations. Proceeds from our tournaments raffle sales have been used to promote educational opportunities for underprivileged children. These funds help children from underprivileged school districts in the Coastal Bend experience the Padre Island National Seashore for the first time, and they allow park staff to educate children about the natural resources contained within the park. We have also donated to Friends of Padre, another non-profit organization that organizes the Billy Sandifer Big Shell Beach Cleanup. Finally, to further research opportunities, we donate and utilize the Texas A&M Corpus Christi's shark tagging program during the tournament to assist the college in continuing this important research.

08/09/2024

EXCITING NEWS:
Signup for the 20th annual Sharkathon 2024 event will begin on August 21st at 8PM central time. You must be a registered user to access the store so please verify your account in advance.

07/18/2024

Mark your calendars for our 3rd Annual Friends of Padre Fall Fiesta September 21st. See details below.

07/12/2024

Update on Sign Up for Sharkathon 2024:

Signup for the 2024 event will begin as soon as we get cost information regarding our permit from the National Park Service. An announcement will be made on this homepage and Facebook once we get our cost information. We will then plan on opening for entries roughly 2 weeks after we receive the final permit cost to allow time for information to get to participants. We will have our usual opening on a Wednesday at 8pm central time for the least amount of conflict in people’s schedules and plans.

Thank you for your patience and continued support of our organization.

07/05/2024

Did you know that all of the TSR and Sharkathon tag and vial information is submitted to TAMUCC HRI? Make sure to tune in and watch Dr. Banks during Shark week.

https://m.facebook.com/story.php?story_fbid=888890229950280&id=100064879324542

Dr. Kesley Banks is a marine biologist who says the idea that sharks are dangerous is a misconception, and that the animals are important to the ocean's ecosystem.

04/17/2024

Dates have finally been approved for the 20th annual Sharkathon event and listed below.

Primary weekend dates: October 25th – 27th , 2024

Backup weekend dates: November 22nd – 24th, 2024

(Backup dates only to be utilized if primary weekend cannot be used due to unforeseen events)

SIGNUP FOR THE 2024 EVENT WILL BEGIN AT THE EARLIEST IN LATE JULY. WE WILL ANNOUNCE ON THIS HOMEPAGE ONCE IT CAN BE DETERMINED WHEN WE WILL LAUNCH SIGNUP FOR THE EVENT.

12/15/2023

Our Christmas Sale starts December 15th and runs through December 31st. There will be a ton of great stuff on sale on the patio and through out the store. Make sure you stop by and take advantage and get your Christmas shopping done!

11/10/2023

10/15/2023

10/12/2023

Make sure you comment on the Coastal Worldwide post on not the Sharkathon post. Thanks!

10/12/2023

Check out this awesome video Coastal Worldwide put together. Make sure you subscribe to their You Tube channel. Thank you Coastal WorldWide and Tight Line Braid for joining us for Sharkathon 2023! We can’t wait to see you next year for our 20th Anniversary Celebration.

🦈What an EPIC weekend it was at Sharkathon 2023 baby! The largest land based shark tournament in the world! 🤘🔥

Full video-

https://youtu.be/uxO4VpqnMU0?si=Lpm_FBFmy8-pJkda

Full video just went live! Be sure to check it out- the only true behind the scenes video that has ever been done on this tournament! Big shout to Tight Line Braid and Sharkathon for letting us give our viewers an inclusive experience!

10/12/2023

Raffle Winners are posted to our website. We will be contacting winners who were not present via email within the next 24 hours. You may also send us a message using the “Contact Us”tab. Please understand that we will ask for verification to confirm identity as we had several purchasers with the same name.

Thank you everyone for purchasing Raffle Tickets. Congratulations to all of our winners!

We hope everyone will join us in 2024 to celebrate our 20th Anniversary.

Sharkathon - The Premier Texas Gulf Shark Fishing Tournament - 100% Catch - Photo - Release

10/11/2023

10/10/2023

We hope you are excited as much as we are! We are giving away a lot of great items. Below you will see some of the larger items to be given away.

10/10/2023

We're less than a month away!

You can get registered here: https://sharkatthemoon.org

And then we still have raffle tickets for sale for the rtic filled with goodies! Tickets are just $1 and help out 2 veterans fighting cancer.

https://www.zeffy.com/en-US/ticketing/1b7d291d-9204-427e-ad7d-b4ee0b837c7c

10/09/2023

Congratulations to the 2023 Shark Division Winner Kevin Whipkey. He caught and released an 11’ Tiger this weekend.

Thank you to all of our participants for your continued support. We will be posting all of our winners later this week. Sharkathon staff continues to be hard at work, trying to wrap up our post tournament to do list. Thank you for your patience!

📷 Courtesy of Ty smith

10/09/2023

Sharkathon would like to thank everyone who purchased raffle tickets. Raffle would not be a success without your continued support. Winners will be posted on our website within the next few days. We hope everyone had a great time at Sharkathon.

10/08/2023

Happy Sharkathon Sunday! We hope everyone had a great weekend despite the weather being typical Sharkathon weather.

Deadline to submit catches is 1:00pm.

Survey must be complete (front and back) to receive a 2024 Grand slam Door Prize ticket. Participants with incomplete surveys will be sent to the back of the line.

Please bring your Angler packet with you to verify which divisions you were entered in for a door prize ticket.

Please make sure your Name and Angler ID is on your Catch Logs. We cannot verify the winning Catch Log without a Name and Angler iD!

There will be a chance to purchase merchandise and raffle tickets today (In Person only).

Thank you!
Sharkathon Staff

10/06/2023

We would like send out a huge Thank You to all of Sponsors this year! Our Sponsors donated awesome Raffle and Door Prizes this year. This is the biggest group of Sponsors we have ever had.

Raffle is open online until midnight tonight and on Sunday in person.

Door Prizes: must be present to win.

Raffle Prizes: do not need to be present to win but winner is responsible for shipping costs.

10/05/2023

We are packing and preparing to come to the Pavilion for Pre-Check In but we may experience some rain delays. Please be patient. We will be there as soon as we can. We are estimating for sometime after 2pm, pending weather. There is some lightening expected with this storm. Please stay safe.

10/05/2023

Thursday weather update for Pre-Check In.

Address

14493 S Padre Island Drive
Corpus Christi, TX
78418

Website

http://www.sharkathon.com/

Alerts

Be the first to know and let us send you an email when Sharkathon posts news and promotions. Your email address will not be used for any other purpose, and you can unsubscribe at any time.

Videos

Don’t forget to stop in and shop the amazing Sharkathon sale at Roy's Bait & Tackle Outfitters!!!!

Thank you to our sponsor Hog River Hydrographics - San Antonio for making our winners cups. It’s the ultimate portable Sharkathon trophy!

Our store will open at approximately 1130 and close later this afternoon.

We would like to thank our long time sponsors, Batson Enterprises and Roy's Bait & Tackle Outfitters for the custom Sharkathon Winners rods. Batson Enterprises has donated all the custom components and the talented team at Roy’s Bait and Tackle creates a one of a kind custom rod each and every year. We can’t wait to showcase our winners with their rods on Sunday! We hope everyone is having an amazing weekend on the sand!