Showing signs of existing without beginning to take fish (9)
I believe the answer is:
betraying
'showing signs' is the definition.
'betraying' can be an answer for 'showing' (thesaurus). I'm unsure of the 'signs' bit.
'existing without beginning to take fish' is the wordplay.
'existing' becomes 'being' ('be' can be a synonym of 'exist').
'without' is an insertion indicator ('without' can be similar in meaning to 'outside').
'beginning to' suggests taking the first letters.
'fish' becomes 'ray' (ray is a kind of fish).
The initial letter of 'take' is 't'.
't'+'ray'='tray'
'being' enclosing 'tray' is 'BETRAYING'.
'of' acts as a link.
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for betraying that I've seen before include "Treacherously handing over to an enemy" , "Double-crossing" .)