WRIGHTSVILLE BEACH — A few local anglers received a one-of-a-kind experience while fishing off of Wrightsville Beach Saturday afternoon, when a curious dolphin decided to tag along with them for their fishing trip.
The fisherman were about 23 miles offshore when the dolphin joined the crew, and had just seen a large tiger shark take a hooked fish off their line. According to the anglers, the dolphin stuck around for about 30 minutes before disappearing off into the blue. During that time, they managed to capture this up close footage on a GoPro.
Chadd Rouse, Owner and Captain of the “For Reel,” spoke on the intelligence of these animals, saying the dolphin appeared eager to see what was going on topside.
“If I’m not mistaken, dolphins are the second smartest animal in the world, behind humans.” Rouse said. “You could see him rolling his head over to check us out, it was really cool.”
“Honestly though, I think it really just liked our music,” he said laughing.
The fisherman were out for a day of King Mackerel fishing for their friend Chris Pursley’s birthday. Pursley said he’d never seen anything quite like that in his life.
“It was such an incredible experience, he just sort of came out of nowhere and followed along with us for about 30 minutes,” Pursley said. “We caught fish, saw a giant shark, and had this dolphin come hang out for awhile. It was a really cool way to start out my birthday.”
