FIN-Tastically Funny: Florida Man Catches and Steals Large Tarpon From Bass Pro Shops' Tanks

We here at Twitchy LOVE a good 'Florida Man' story. We love them ALMOST as much as we love puns so when one of our buddies tipped us off to this one we KNEW it was going to be absolutely 'FIN-TASTIC'. We are going to warn you upfront, there will be puns. Lots of puns. So let's 'Dive' right in.

NEW: Florida police are searching for a man who 'caught' a 50-pound tarpon from a Bass Pro Shops' fish tank.

Only in Florida!

Lee County Sheriff's Office is searching for a suspect who walked off with a tarpon in a fishing net.

"Somebody came up to me holding a scale of a… pic.twitter.com/xdfVpElfLo
— Collin Rugg (@CollinRugg) December 22, 2023

We like that the post is already lying for the 'Bass Pro Bandit' and saying the fish is 50 pounds. Even if he is caught he has the foundation for a great story. He can say it weighs more than it did and probably lie about how tall it was as well. By propping the bandit up, is that user guilty of aiding and 'a-bait-ing'? *insert drum roll: ba-dum-dum-tss*

This is one of the more bizarre retail theft videos we’ve seen 🤣
— Western Lensman (@WesternLensman) December 22, 2023

It is bizarre, but it is also Florida and to be honest, we have to agree with Twitchy's own, Grateful Calvin ( see his post below), this story is not as wild as some of the things that we have seen come out of Florida. Let us remind you that Carole Baskin of 'Tiger King' fame was in Florida. Need we say more?

All things considered, this is a pretty tame outing from Florida Man. https://t.co/goOsCumNLX
— Ultra Grateful Calvin 🇺🇸🐶🏒 🎶 (@shoveitjack) December 22, 2023

DID THEY FIND A LOOPHOLE!?!? Without a barcode can we argue the fish is not a product being sold by the store and therefore was not stolen but simply re-homed? If the bandit were only in California instead of Florida he would be in a better position. It does not matter if it was stealing or not in California. Ever since the 'summer of love' during COVID lockdowns, you can just steal anything and get away with it in the blue states.

Fish Forward to our next set of posts. We had several people pointing out the social media angle to all of this.

Is this all for social media attention, or is he serious?

It is really crazy 🤪
— InspiredCafe2023 (@ICafe2023) December 22, 2023

Social media clout is a cancer to society.
— Brett (@Texan__Pride) December 22, 2023

That may be the biggest understatement ever made. If that post were a fish, it would be bigger than the fish this guy caught, or stole, or set free ... whatever you choose to call it, it would be bigger than that.

He's got a dude following him with a camera.

He's a kid.

Bets on this being some kind of TikTok stunt for clout? https://t.co/YqfM76Xo0b
— Daddy Warpig (@DaddyWarpig) December 23, 2023

We think they are right. It was probably a prank for social media. We actually did try to look for any posts showing a person doing something like this. We did some searches on various platforms and scoured the comment section, but at the time of writing this, we have not found anything. YET!

We at Twitchy have a love-hate relationship with social media. It is literally our job to write about the happenings on social media but we do recognize that it has some downfalls, and doing 'ANYTHING for clout' is ruining an entire generation of young people.

Another Twtchy writer, Tertullianus, had some questions and another X user had the perfect answer.

Could he not afford the $50 license?
— Quintus Septimius Florens Tertullianus (@mwilliams433) December 23, 2023

Bidenomics is hitting hard.
Gotta find food anyway you can nowadays.
— ZNO 🇺🇸 (@therealZNO) December 22, 2023

YUP. 'Salmon' had to say it. This economy is for the birds (not fish). One might even describe Bidenomics as a load of 'carp'.

Guys stop sending me this it wasn’t me

Also, anyone have a good fish & game lawyer? Asking for a friend 🙏
— FloridaMan.eth 🍊 (@votefloridaman) December 22, 2023

*SNORT* We cackled.

Look, Florida either believes in freedom or it doesn’t https://t.co/ymiJdx34F6
— Ben Sasse (@BenSasse) December 22, 2023

This story was such a catch, even former Senator Ben Sasse had some jokes.

'Cod' this be any funnier? Florida man wins this match. Consider yourself 'schooled' Bass Pro Shop.

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