Ditch Tarpon in East Central Florida - Advice from the Master

Jon Mallory might have caught more tarpon last year than anybody else in the state of Florida. Mallory caught and released 215 tarpon, all on fly rod. He took DNA samples from 137 of those tarpon for the FWC’s 2009 Tarpon Genetic Recapture Program. Mallory’s 137 DNA samples were the second highest number submitted by all the guides and recreational anglers participating in the program.

You might imagine Mallory spent a good bit of last year zipping around in a fancy flats boat plying the tarpon rich waters of southwest Florida or the Keys. The truth is Mallory’s “flats boat” is a 1996 Ford Taurus that he bought used for $500. His “casting deck” is roadside banks. His “tarpon rich waters” are canals and brackish swamps of east central Florida. None of Mallory’s 215 tarpon were caught from a boat!

The retired, former trout fisherman from Owego, NY, is a self-proclaimed ditch tarpon fanatic. You’ll find Mallory cruising rural roads in his old Ford searching for tarpon just about any day from June until the cold fronts of winter drive the tarpon south. If Mallory’s success last year is not enough to convince you there is a viable juvenile tarpon fishery in east central Florida then I don’t know what will.

Obviously ditch tarpon are not the big fish that cruise along our beaches. Mallory says his tarpon averaged about 22 inches long. His smallest last year was 4-1/4 inches with his biggest around 20 pounds.

To find your own ditch tarpon fishing spots Mallory advises, “Locate rural canals that connect to the lagoon system and spend time driving the back roads observing the water for rolling and feeding tarpon. One way to reduce your search time is to talk to people you find fishing the area.” Web sites that provide aerial images are also an excellent way to find those rural canals. Mallory offers one more secret to help you identify potential ditch tarpon hot spots. “I observed that tarpon and gar seem to frequent the same waters. If there are no gar, there probably aren’t many tarpon around. The two species seem to have the same choice in food source and water.”

According to Mallory we are entering the prime months for ditch tarpon fishing. “I had my best luck in September and October. By November many of the tarpon started their exodus from the canals on their way south for the winter.”