The end of the first week of May saw a significant shift in the Caithness weather with spring turning to summer almost overnight.

With the river running at 8 1/2", Monday 6th saw five fish landed with one apiece to Richard Adam (15 lb) and Will Peake (12 lbs, liced) from Bt. 4, one each from Bt. 10 to Mark Newton and Malcolm MacRae (both 8 lbs) and a fresh, sea-liced 10 lber to Stuart Nicholson from The Old Woman on Bt. 11.

Catches slowed as the temperature rose and adverse winds made life difficult. Nevertheless, Jock Campbell caught a lovely 8 lb salmon in the Dale Stream, Bt. 8, on his third cast of the day, Wednesday, and Momo Aoudia netted a fine 15 lb fish from Bt. 7 on Thursday.

Friday the 10th saw a 10 lber to Ken Debney's party on Bt. 11, whilst Richard Adam landed his second of the week, a 10 lb salmon from James MacDonald's on Bt. 9.

The week ended with blistering sunshine, clear skies and the temperature hitting 25 C.

With moderate South Easterlies forecast for next week conditions should be cooler and cloudier and hopefully kinder to the anglers than this Saturday has been.

Tight lines next week!