ISLAMORADA, FLA. — In a modern retelling of The Old Man and the Sea — call it Googans and the Gulf of America — three teenagers hooked a 175-pound tarpon from a canoe at the world-famous Robbie’s docks and were promptly dragged clear across the state to Fort Myers.
Robbie’s is best known as the place where tourists hand-feed tarpon off the dock — and, on any given day, the occasional shark, pelican, crab, iguana, and, ever since the record-breaking Mini Season brought 29 million boaters to the Keys, at least one opportunistic octopus. Catching the tarpon, however, is famously frowned upon by most. They are, for all intents and purposes, pets.
The three kids behind the account FishFindersNoCapppp67 — a channel with a combined 112 followers — were livestreaming when they hooked what one later called “the wrong fish”: bigger, angrier, and far less interested in being a pet than anticipated. Tyler “T-Rex” Hooker, nicknamed for his notably short arms, set the hook and did not let go.
Crewmates Robbie “Rizzle” and Jimmy “J-Hook” attempted to position the canoe among the tourists, the docks, and the moored boats, and failed on all three counts. Rizzle went overboard almost immediately. T-Rex held on.
He held on, in fact, from 8:32 a.m. until 9:17 p.m., as the tarpon towed the canoe down the coast “like horses pulling a chariot.” Anglers and boaters followed the Twitch stream — kept alive by Jimmy’s iPhone and a backup battery — and attempted several rescues, all of which T-Rex waved off.
He didn’t need saving, he insisted: he knew this was the fish of a lifetime, and he wanted to go viral. No cap. A rescue boat finally launched from Sarasota after watching the live feed. Throughout, T-Rex fueled himself on 11 Red Bulls, three bananas, and a trusty fish whistle and, stubborn as an old dinosaur, refused to quit.
When the fish was finally landed near Fort Myers, Tyler’s family was waiting on the dock, not to celebrate, exactly, but to grab some grub and check all of their social media feeds. “Priorities.”
The ordeal has reignited a long-simmering debate. Critics argue the Robbie’s tarpon are less wild fish than trained puppies.
