Fishing the upper river Nene in the fourth qualifying round of the £ 21,000 Embassy Challenge, Jimmy Hines, a 40 year old electrician from Pemberton, Lancs took first place with a record breaking catch.

Jimmy, who fishes for Saints, was pegged at Pilton. He polefished maggot at 151/2 metres to land two bream and then lost a fish. Switching to a worm and red maggot cocktail on a size 12 hook to 5lb line and a No.12 elastic, he went on to take first place in the Individual event and pocketed £ 340. This outstanding performance has helped Jimmy and partner Gary Whalley qualify for the final of the world’s biggest pairs competition in Denmark next June for a record-breaking fifth successive year.

The catch weighed 102.660kg and is thought to be the heaviest five hour match weight taken from an English river and the greatest weight taken during the 25 year history of the Embassy.

Pairs Results
1.Rick Tweddell (Bourne Match Group) & Brian Harding (Bourne Match Group) 494 points.

2.John Taylor (Davies Angling) & Geoff Fisher (Davies Angling) 492 points.

3.Claire Dagnall (Dick Clegg Lifestyle) & Mike Dagnall (Dick Clegg Lifestyle) 490 points.

4.Steve Schubert (Plysu AC) and Roy Hefferon (Milton Keynes AA) 490 points (Dagnall and Dagnall take third place above Hefferon and Schubert on superior weight – 10.680kg to 9.95kg.

5.Gary Whalley (Saints) & Jimmy Hines (Saints) 486 points.

Individual Results
Jimmy Hines (Saints) 102.660kg

Geoff Fisher (Davies Angling) 18.490kg

Steve Raper (Team Normark) 14.330kg

Brian Harding (Bourne Match Group) 8.630kg

Mike Dagnall (Dick Clegg Lifestyle) 8.120kg

Roy Hefferon (Milton Keynes AA) 7.300kg.