A diver has created an unlikely bond with a wild fish and the pair “meet” every summer at the same spot.
Rex Colubra, 40, made friends with the freshwater smallmouth bass while on a dive in September 2021.
The bizarre encounter ended with the pair becoming friends and Mr. Colubra even named the fish Elvis.
The pair now see each other every year when Mr. Colubra travels to the lake where Elvis lives.
A printshop worker and animal enclosure maker, Mr. Colubra, 40, has taught Elvis a call that he'll respond to and says his “friend” now gets jealous if other fish get too close to him.
“I even taught him a call. I will do a gulping grunt sound with my throat and he'll come find me,” the diver said.
“Elvis will literally just fight other fish if they get too close to me, to keep them away.”
“It was like any other dive. I was checking out a new spot and all these fish were coming up to me,” Mr. Colubra said, speaking about their first encounter.
“I noticed one was sticking closer than the rest. He wasn’t scared even when I got out. He stuck close to the surface in the shallows.”
He returned to the same spot two weeks later, and the fish recognized him and approached him.
“Two weeks later, I returned and fed him some crawfish,” said Mr. Colubra, who hails from northern Wisconsin.
“He’s completely obsessed with me. He follows me around and just stares me in the eyes.”
Mr. Colubra recognizes Elvis because of a scar the fish has on his face, most likely from being caught by a fisherman.
Since the two met, there have been a couple of scares.
Last year, it took Mr. Colubra a while to find Elvis, and he feared the fish had died.
“Of course, I would be sad if he had been caught. He’s my friend,” said Mr. Colubra, who refuses to reveal which lake Elvis lives in to protect him from fishermen.
“There’s not much I can do to protect him. It’s the risk he runs every year.
“I don’t like sport fishing. I think it’s immoral. If you are going to catch a fish you should eat it and not just put a hook in it.”
