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Across

1/23dn. Good additive for tench (*purely Spam) (5,5) 4 e.g. separates leadcore’s braid and wire (7)

8 Noisy pike lure – in Sussex rapids (1-3)

9 e.g. corn seed (5) 10 Perthshire river for salmon, trout, grayling (*near) (4) 11 Up-to-date – some spare centrepin (6)

12 Suffolk town where River Gipping becomes Orwell (7) 13 Coarse fish in salmon family (8)

15 World of plants, animals etc. (*er, tuna?) (6)

17 Having a good chance of winning (4-2)

19 Ornamental carp relative (*hold figs) (8) 21 Stan, Scottish Fly Champ 1990 /team manager (*he delay) (7)

23 Small firecrackers (6) 24 Rivers Churn and Windrush are in this county (abbrev.) (4)

25 Transparent, like glycerine gel (5)

26 To challenge, defy (4) 27 e.g. kelp or dulse (7) 28 Nickname for black bream (*Roy, GP) (5)

Down

1 Used in advance of fishing to find best site (*dark ormer) (6,3)

2 Pungent, like the taste of Robin Red (7)

3 Cuttlefish has ___ arms (5) 4 Raised platform at water’s edge, for anglers etc. (7) 5 County location of Rivers Calder and Hodder (abbrev.) (5)

6/21 dn. Northern uplands, source of Aln (*I’ve hot chills!) (7,5)

7___ Thompson, owner of Barford Lakes, Norfolk (5) 14 Pub, bar (3)

15 Nothing ... in Kenilworth! (3)

16 Fruity name for Redmire’s oldest recorded carp (died 2009)! (9)

18 Welsh city location of Fendrod Lake fishery (7) 19 Lake Bala is in this Welsh county (7)

20 Fill with water and sink like a ship (*for dune) (7)

21 See 6dn.

22 Kevin ___, with Richie Collins, won British Carp Cup 2017 (5)

23 See 1ac.