PS gurus - help me get rid of some lens flare

G'day guys. Took some dawn landscapes off some rocks yesterday morning. Early in the session I had a minor disagreement about my shooting location with a rogue wave - ie I got drenched, along with gear. Did my best in the dark to clean the front element, but evidently some streaks were left. You can see some flare on the darker areas of the cropped sections attached. One is virtually SOOC, the other is stretched so the flare is more noticeable.

I tried burning the flares, but that just turns them grey/black - ie they lose all colour.

I'm wondering if anyone can suggest a method of getting rid of them but retaining the colour, ie matching the surrounding lightness and colour. I could clone, but suspect there's a way of doing this but retaining the detail?

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What version PS?
In PSCS4 and later, dodge/burn got a whole lot better (if you tick the "protect tones" tickbox)

I'd try a curves adjustment layer, and mask just the flare. Tricky job though.

Thanks mate. It's CS4. Don't often use dodge/burn, will look into that protection. If not, will try the curves/mask suggestion.

Edit: just checked, and protect tones was already checked.

Had a bit of a play with curves/mask and can't for the life of me get anything reasonable. Still open to suggestions

You won't get rid of it all, but it's a start:

Thanks again. I went with a slightly darker edit and the processing is hopefully less evident?

IMAGE LINK: http://www.flickr.com/​photos/troypiggo/65938​18351/

Not a bad save approach. Nice shot too.