Loss of guts from fish biting large parts of line (4,4)
I believe the answer is:
cold feet
'loss of guts' is the definition.
'cold feet' can be an answer for 'loss' (I have seen 'Loss of nerve' mean 'cold feet' so perhaps 'loss' could also mean 'cold feet'). I'm not sure about the 'of guts' bit.
'fish biting large parts of line' is the wordplay.
'fish' becomes 'cod' (type of fish).
'biting' means one lot of letters goes inside another (I've seen this in other clues).
'parts of' says to take the initial letters (I've seen 'part' mean this).
'line' becomes 'feet' (I can't justify this - if you can you should believe this answer much more).
The initial letter of 'large' is 'l'.
'cod' placed around 'l' is 'cold'.
'cold'+'feet'='COLD FEET'
'from' acts as a link.
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for cold feet that I've seen before include "Loss of courage or confidence" , "result of paddling in winter ?" , "Icy extremities for slang fear" , "You'd have them if you were afraid to proceed" , "Loss of nerve" .)