After the bitter winds and icy cold days of April,in early May temperatures in Caithness & Sutherland warmed considerably. This came as something of a relief for both local and visiting anglers who had spent most of the last month shivering! Sadly the warm weather did not last and the month ended with icy blasts from the north. Dspite some pretty awful conditions out on the lochs some good catches have been experienced with Loch Calder producing some excellent trout from the north end. Local angler Dave Martin had a lovely trout of 1lb 8oz on a black beetle fly of his own construction and Lesley has had a few smaller fish to the Kate McLaren. While most of the Calder trout were in fine condition it was noticable that a few remain on the skinny side, indicative of a hard winter. The Reay lochs have been quiet with most trout remaining tucked out of sight, a good black gnat hatch is needed to get things moving for May. Famous Loch Watten has opened to a flurry of local and visiting activity, Lesley began her Watten quest with some excellent trout best 2lb 2oz to a Black & Silver Marabou Spider and other reports indicate similar catches in the 1.5lb to 2lb range along with some smaller fish. Rivers went very low after some good spates in April and only picked up when some heavy rain fell at the months end. Salmon were seen jumping the falls in the lovely Forss river and some good sport was experienced.