[Cynara]

Baked Grayling
Grayling are the most beautiful fish in the river, and fishing for them is at its best at this time of the year.  
First catch your fish, (you can’t buy them in the shops) on a wet or dry fly, anything with a touch of red.  



What you need:
2 medium sized grayling (500 g each approx)
2 tbsp (1 oz) 25 g butter
300 g onions saved from last years crop.
2 tbsp chopped parsley
salt and pepper
175 ml dry white wine
175 ml (6 fl oz) double cream juice of 1/2 lemon
watercress sprigs


Method
1. Butter an ovenproof dish with half the butter.
2. Skin and slice the onions, and cover the bottom of the dish with the slices.
3. Sprinkle with the chopped parsley, and season.
4. Clean the fish, remove the fins, then lay the fish in the dish, side by side.
5. Melt the remaining butter and brush it over the fish.
6. Bake in a fairly hot oven at 200°C, Gas 6, for 10 minutes.
7. Add the wine, baste with the juices, and bake for a further 15 minutes.
8. Add the cream and cook for a further 5 minutes.
9. Squeeze the lemon juice over the fish just before serving.
10. Garnish with watercress sprigs and serve with the rest of the bottle of white wine.

[David.]

First catch your fish, (you can’t buy them in the shops) on a wet or dry fly

Float fished brandlings also work well (that's the worms in your wormeries).

[Scribbler]

Lovely piccie by the way. Straight out of a Lady MacDonald cookbook!

[mushroom]

That fish looks fantastic. What did you have it with?

[Rob the rake]

Grayling are supposed to be great eating, shame I'll never find out as they are so beautiful I can't bring myself to kill one!

Pike are an entirely different proposition, and a 6 or 7 pounder makes a dish fit for a king.

[Cynara]

I know what you mean Rob, but yes, grayling do taste even better than trout (great with big sauteed chips with the skin left on, and a green salad).
The one above was taken on an iron blue dun from the River Vyrnwy, here five minutes from home. If you like pics of fishing spots this is the salmon pool on a misty morning.