Herefordshire angler Rory Jones smashed the River Wye Winter League record last Sunday, with an astonishing 251lb chub catch, in just 5 hours of Fishing.

Representing his ‘Woodys Premier’ team in the final round of the 7 match series, the 29 Year Old England international was drawn in the shadow of the New bridge in Hereford. 

He managed to amass in excess of 350 fish on short pole and float tactics, for his record breaking weight. 

This beats the previous record of 167lb which has stood since 2009, and to round off the perfect day, his team also clinched the league title.

Aside from Rory’s weight, the rest of the 72 competitors caught a combined total of 1994lb fish, to further underline the River Wye as the best in the Uk at present. 

League organiser and fellow team mate Dave Roberts said, ’Rory is a special talent who will go on to break many records but this performance was way above anything we’ve seen before’

‘We have top anglers from across Europe coming here to experience the incredible fishing, and everyone is a bit perplexed as to why there is so much negativity about the Wye right now.

“As anglers we pay licence fees, so have a vested interest in making sure the river is healthy. We know things are entering our rivers that shouldn’t, and we need to continue fighting polluters on all fronts, but things just don’t add up. On top of the coarse angling improving year on year, we’re seeing more kingfishers, otters, egrets and many other forms of wildlife, which belies this negative picture being painted of the river right now’

“We have 4 more big competitions before the end of the coarse fishing season and every one is a sell out with waiting lists.”