Fade to grayling

THE end of the wild brown trout season always brings on that familiar shuffle among fly anglers: a glance at the vice, a tidy of the boxes, maybe even the annual promise to sort out the waders "before spring".

- BY LOUIS FEROX

But for those not quite ready to hibernate, there's the perfect winter remedy drifting quietly through our rivers - the Lady of the Stream herself, grayling.

They're the ideal cold-weather quarry: elegant, obliging, and perfectly at home in water too chilly for sensible pursuits. After weeks of rain and rising levels, the forecast finally hinted at a break.

The rivers were dropping, the wind predicted to behave itself, and with even a glimpse of clearing water, you don't need a second invitation.

So before most folk had breakfast on, we were down on the Tweed rigging up under car headlights.

Braving the cold alongside Callum, Finn, Mick and Cuillin (of Cuillin Rae Fishing) there was a proper team feeling to tackling the day.