Thomas Edison, Fort Myers & Tarpon

A Photo Essay

On The Fly Saltwater

December 2023

Article and photos by Jimmy Jacobs.

Thomas Alva Edison received 1,093 patents during his career, including those for the light bulb, phonograph, movie camera and alkaline storage battery. By many, he is considered America’s greatest inventor. He spent much of his later years living in Fort Myers, Florida.

Far lesser known, Edison was also a fisherman, with a particular fondness for chasing big tarpon. No doubt that passion was sparked in 1885, when W. H. Wood of New York recorded the first ever silver king caught on a rod and reel in nearby Punta Rassa.

Today Edison’s home and laboratory in southwest Florida are on the grounds of the Edison and Ford Winter Estates. Henry Ford was a younger protoge of Edison and often visited his mentor. Here’s a look at the historic site and its connection to angling.

A larger than life stature of Edison is positioned beneath the largest Banyan tree in the continental United States.
Edison and Ford had houses built side-by-side on the property.
Visitors to the site can walk through Edison Labratory.
Pilings are all that remain of the dock on the Caloosahatchee River from which Edison often fished.
Edison’s frequent fishing partner was his son Charles.
On a trip up the river, Edison finally achieved the feat of catching a 40-pound tarpon. When he discovered that Charles, who was fishing in another boat, caught one that tipped the scales near the 100-pound mark, he uttered the words seen in the photo above.
Replicas of the tarpon caught by Thomas and Charles Edison during their trip up the Caloosahatchee River now hang on the Edison house porch.

For more information, visit the Edison and Ford Winter Estates website.

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