Can you crack it?
(* indicates an anagram)
Across
7 Peninsular Hants. town opposite Portsmouth (7) 10 Big buoyant floats or casual shoes (7) 12 University city where Thames is called Isis (6) 14 Connected to mainline it’s less prone to tangle (*honk limo - no? OK) (4,8) 15 Supports for long rods (4,5) 16 Narrow part of float (4) 17 Gooey stuff – partly fishing ungentlemanly! (5) 18 Two-ringed anti-kinking device (*brewer’s villa) (6,6) 20 Largest part of a country excluding islands (*and Milan) (8) 23 Ayrshire village on River Doon (*away, LOL!) (7) 24 Tackle box device to hold hooks firmly (*get man) (6) 25 County location of Ribble and Lune 27 Smell ... in spod – ours? (5) 29 Trails a baited line through water (6) 31 Handy things for mixing e.g. damp leam and joker! (6,4) 34 Tiny fish with six barbules (*no shoal etc.) (5,5) 36 Caught e.g. in a putcher (6) 37 Less common (5) 38 One of 12 Xmas gifts (6,4) 40 Lake at Cambs. Rookery Water, and black/white bird (6) 42 Applied e.g. mucilin (7) 43 Squirms like a maddie (8) 45 Nutty paste used for bait (6,6) 47 *Rules about poppers? (5) 49 Release a granny? (4) 51 Somerset peninsula in Bristol Channel (*ban new rod) (5,4) 53 Retrieving pole to bank (8,4) 55 Salmon on first return from sea (*gel, sir?) (6) 56 Describes Robson Green’s fishing 2008 to 2011? (7) 57 As fluorocarbon line is – stretchy, bouncy (7)
Down
1 Large version of running-water float developed in Italy (* Lobo) (4) 2 It controls canal water’s flow (*e.g. it’s a clue!) (6,4) 3 Santa’s bag: carp holder? (4) 4 Oily seed hookbait (4) 5 Drayton’s pegs 1-36, ‘The ____’ (6) 6 Cumbrian lake (*mere rags) (8) 7 Type of carp seen by Scrooge? (5) 8 Two boilies on hair rig – for an abominable fellow? (7) 9 Memento, souvenir (*net, OK?) (5) 11 Like the sheen of flanks of mature eel (7) 13 Using same length pole/rig/line to avoid unshipping (7,2,4) 17 ‘Pre-elvers’ are ___ eels (5) 18 Northern town: location of Bradshaw Hall fishery (6) 19 Oar-propelled craft (7) 21 A silver bream’s is smaller than that of a bronze (4,3) 22 Float with a sail-like vane (7) 24 Spinnerbait blade is usually made of this (5) 26 It has a freely revolving spool (9,4) 28 Clyde-side town near Cart and Clyde confluence (7) 30 Port on Seine estuary with crossChannel ferry (2,5) 32 ___ Turner, who popularized 22ac. float fishing (5) 33 Its tributaries are Tone, Isle and Yeo (7) 35 Gordon ___, author of ‘Mastering the Nymph’ (6) 38 Waterway affected by sea’s ebb and flow (5,5) 39 In short, county location of Mallory Park fishery (5) 41 Wilts. Avon-side town (*Burma, yes!) (8) 42 Form of sugar in e.g. CSL – *clues go haywire! (7) 44 Rooting for food, as fish do in weeds (*bring bug) (8) 46 Xmas tree decoration, glittery thread for fly lures (6) 48 Guy ___ are used to tether tents (5) 50 ___ Lakes: popular Peterborough fishery (5) 52 Dumfries river – partly frozen I think! (4) 53 ‘___ Canal’, Cudmore, hosted 2017 Ladies FishO final (*Zeus) (4) 54 Trout/salmon river of Kilkenny – in Bognor estuary! (4)