The clues....

ACROSS

6 Make a hole e.g. in tiger nut (5) 7 It cuts small pieces of e.g. bread from a slice (4,5) 9 Keepnet material with tiny holes (anag. of ‘rich Somme’) (9) 10 See 25dn. 11 Cloth thrown in by despondent blanking angler? (5) 12 Bend in slow-moving river (7) 16 Small type of herring used as deadbait (5) 17 Short and fat, like a pear lead (5) 20 Name of a fishery 17 miles from Plymouth, also a moth (7) 23 Relating to country life, countryside (5) 25 Small, spiny freshwater fish (anag. of ‘a loch’) (5) 27 Stress, expressed as a weight, put on a rod/pole by a fish (9) 28 ____ anglers often use a headlamp (9) 29 They’re hard - but sea anglers might fish from them (5)

DOWN

1 Quaint, rather grand term for an angler (anag. of ‘carp Otis’) (8) 2 Heavy rains will add this swell to rivers etc. (anag. of ‘float or dew’) (10) 3 River of Grantham, also town in Essex (6) 4 Some way from the sea (6) 5 Carp-fishing rig used for silted lakes (4) 6 Embankments to hold/ restrain water (4) 7 Mealworm is the larva of this insect (6) 8 Match-fishing swim with a number (3) 13 Fishery in Buckinghamshire (anag. of ‘Alfred Arms’) (6,4) 14 Welsh resort on River Clwyd sounds like a small stream (4) 15 e.g. __ of Dogs (anag. of ‘lies’) (4) 18 Fast, strong current that could power a corn-grinding wheel (4-4) 19 Garden hand tool useful for digging up worms? (6) 21 Brown, orange-spotted, edible flatfish (6) 22 Essex river, tributary of the Thames (anag. of ‘no grid’) (6) 24 River flowing through Middlesbrough (4) 25/10 Anti-tangle feature of a fixed spool reel (anag. of ‘lunge, raid’) (4,5) 26 Angler’s total catch in a session (4)