Amazing footage of the encounter shows the manta ray spreading its wings wide for best access and motioning Mr Wilton to remove the hook.
"She got closer and closer and then started unfurling to present the eye to me,"he said.
"You could see she was trusting us because she was showing us the hook.
"I knew we had to get the hook out of her eye or she would have been in big trouble.
"I went down for one last try and the manta stayed completely still in the water."
After several attempts,the 30-year-old is finally able to remove the hook,rising triumphantly from the ocean as the ray swims majestically away.