Pinches had a very poor 2015–16 season as he only won two matches all year, both of these coming at the Haining Open. He was involved in two frames of note during the season. At the Ruhr Open, Pinches and Alan McManus set the record for the longest official snooker frame at 100 minutes and 24 seconds. The record stood until April 2017. In the final frame of his 4–1 defeat of Pinches in the first round of the Welsh Open, Ronnie O'Sullivan learned that the prize for making a 147 was £10,000 and decided after potting the 14th red to pot a pink and make a 146 instead as the prize money was not enough. Pinches dropped off the tour at the end of the season and he failed to regain his place on the main tour through Q School. He qualified for the 2016 Paul Hunter Classic, but lost 4–3 to Cao Yupeng in the first round.