The clues....

ACROSS 7 Town at the mouth of Mersey, on the Wirral peninsula (8) 9 Deliberately foul-hook a fish (anag. of ‘chants’) (6) 11 The ___ Canal links Loch Neagh to the Irish Sea (5) 12 Type of shark (anag. of ‘barge pole’!) (9) 13 Fast flowing and very agitated (anag. of ‘but let run’) (9) 15 Metal part of spinner bait (5) 16 Match angler hopes his/ her catch will add up to many of these (6) 18 More rainy (6) 22 River of Germany (anag. of ‘sewer’!) (5) 23 Such a hook has a wide gape, for large baits (5-4) 25 That of grayling is huge and sail-like (6,3) 26 ___ green is the main colour of a tench (5) 27 Didn’t hold water (6) 28 Rivers Liffey and Esk flow into this (5,3)

DOWN 1 Very sensitive rod-top bite indicator (8) 2 As fish mature they tend to get more __ (anag. of ‘awry’) (4) 3 Temporary container for caught fish (7) 4 Hybrids occur when e.g. bream ____ with roach (10) 5 Such water is still and often oxygen-deficient (8) 6 Type of bait – say it when posing with your catch for a pic! (6) 8 The ___ Bann flows from Loch Neagh to the Atlantic (‘anag. of ‘rowel’) (5) 10 Fishes with float, taking advantage of the current (5) 14 Submerged (10) 17 Nearer to a river’s source (anag of ‘pure mats’) (8) 19 Fishery in Cotswolds named after Britain’s oldest road (8) 20 Go with the flow (5) 21 Marine fish (anag. of ‘drag run’) (7) 22 Walk like a duck (6) 24 Cylindrical pellets, great for barbel ( anag. of ‘piles’) (5) 26 A Yorkshire river’s sludge, by the sound of it (4)