Pics coming soon!
Peace River (Hardee & DeSoto Counties)
Difficult to call yourself a true Florida Fossil Hunter if you've never dug or at least searched here. I'm sure many of Florida's rivers & creeks hold abundant fossils, but this one definitely provides & is famous.
Small- Large Shark teeth & other marine Mio vertebrates: Early/mid Miocene- late Miocene/ Early Pliocene
Mammal/ aquatic reptile fossils: Late Pleistocene
Joshua Creek (DeSoto County)
Very similar to the Peace River, maybe more hit or miss (smaller so many areas very dug over, but may also be more secluded/ less activity than usual areas). Like the Peace, some stretches seem more conducive to holding shark/dugong/ other marine mio fossils & more Pleistocene fossils in other spots/ stretches
Small- Large Shark teeth: Early/mid Miocene- late Miocene/ Early Pliocene
Mammal/ aquatic reptile fossils: Late Pleistocene
Phosphate Mines (Many Counties, Hardee for the one I searched)
Only had the opportunity to hunt in one once, megalodon teeth seem more common than in rivers/creeks (even though at least one stretch of the Peace River is more conducive to baby meg teeth than most for some reason). Possible to find terrestrial Miocene fossils too (that washed out to the marine deposits, also in other marine deposits but more difficult to prove they aren't Pleistocene).
Small- Large Shark teeth & other marine Mio vertebrates: Mid- Late(?) Miocene
Mulberry Museum Gravel Pit (Polk County)
If any fossil hunting locality is right in the middle of being not poor but not necessarily great, this has to be right there (even though everyone has "bad days" on a river or creek every once in a while). Mostly small shark teeth, many broken, but larger teeth can be found too with luck &/or diligence. Plenty of common Sand Tigers & Hemipristis uncommon, lending me to believe the spoils they dump here may be from the early Miocene, but this is just speculation. Kind of annoying to remove the yellowish residues on fossils at home.
Caspersen Beach (Sarasota County)
For a beach fossiling site, not too shabby at all. Near Venice- the "shark tooth capital of the world" except supposedly near Venice too much sand has been added. From digging near the drop off, found some decently sized teeth, but pretty dang worn from ocean actions (unlike teeth @ most other beaches listed here, but less abundant?). More sand tigers than usual it seems, so these deposits may be early Miocene. Manasota Key is supposedly also pretty good but still lots of worn teeth (far offshore scuba diving sites seem to have larger, more complete teeth)
-Apollo Beach (Hillsborough County)
Continues to get more difficult hunting here w/ more & more mechanical controls involved to prevent beach erosion (implementation of boulders, off shore barriers, sand) but fossil shark teeth (mostly bulls & some lemons) can be found; as well as relatively common turtle shell & horse teeth if you're lucky (+ shells of course). Found most of my fossil snake vertebrae so far from here.
Small- Medium Shark teeth
Mammal/ aquatic reptile fossils: Late Pleistocene
-Sand Key Beach (Pinellas County)
By no means in the same tier as River/Creeks, mostly very small intermittent teeth (walking away with 10 teeth in any condition after an hour or 2 constitutes a great day) which may not be worth searching in your opinion, but fossil hunting is very therapeutic to me & nearly always worth it. Plus some medium sized ~0.5" teeth can be found too. Mostly lemons/ general grey shark teeth but some bulls/ uncommon hemi's & other possible finds (very small fish mouthplate, fossil crab claw)
-Indian Rocks Beach (Pinellas County)
Seems similar to Sand Key, but more hit or miss (higher quality but less quantity?). More teeth in the surf, less on upland sand.
Alafia River (Hillsborough County)
Haven't tried yet, but seems to yield fossils (at least micro Oligocene shark teeth in some gravely areas). Seems many areas just have fossilized coral, probably best to rent a kayak before attempting.