Crossword Genius

Reserves a place to fish, you'll acknowledge (7)

Ross

I believe the answer is:

respond

I'm a little stuck... Click here to teach me more about this clue!

'acknowledge' is the definition.
(I know this)

'reserves a place to fish you'll' is the wordplay.
I cannot quite see how this works, but
'place to fish' could be 'pond' (I've seen this in another clue) and 'pond' is found within the answer.
The remaining letters 'res' is a valid word which might be clued in a way I don't see.
This explanation may well be incorrect...

Can you help me to learn more?

(Other definitions for respond that I've seen before include "Answer back" , "Write back" , "Answer or react" , "State in reply" , "Reply - react" .)

I've seen this clue in the Evening Standard.
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