NEVER in his wildest dreams did Phil Hodgkinson imagine he would be spending a day fishing in Townsville with former Aussie test cricketer Andrew “Roy” Symonds.
Hodgkinson and his son Cal from Ocean Grove in Victoria have just returned from the trip of a lifetime after winning a photo caption competition held by Ugly Fish Eyewear.
Symonds, who lives in Townsville, is an ambassador for Ugly Fish Eyewear and working towards a full-time career in fishing.
“I took the boys to the Bowley River just north of Townsville and tried to troll up a barra, but that didn’t work so we tried a bit of casting in amongst the snags,” Symonds said.
“We had a tough day. I was hoping for a barra for one of the boys at some stage but that’s fishing.”
While the barra proved elusive, Phil got bragging rights over Cal by catching a nice trevally.
“Yeah,I landed one, Cal missed one and had a couple of nibbles along the way so all good, everyone’s happy.
Hodgkinson couldn’t believe his luck when recalling the circumstances of his win in the competition after buying a new pair of Ugly Fish sunglasses and entering the Ugly Thrillzphoto caption competition.
Although disappointed with the lack of fish, Hodgkinson will look back on the day’s fishing with Symonds with fond memories.
“It’s not often you get to chase barra with Andrew Symonds or have a BBQ at his house. Cal and I reckon it’s been great,” Hodgkinson said.
“We put in nearly seven hours and were certainly ready to blow the froth off a couple and dig into one of Roy’s steaks by the end of the day.
“We’ve never won anything like this in our lives so it was an absolute hoot.”
Check out the boys in action below.
