Myself and 3 others have fished Assynt angling association waters for a few years now, taking a self catering cottage for a week in Lochinver and enjoying a meal and a few beers at the local pub apres fishing within easy walking distance of home. It's great value.
Can anyone suggest any alternatives worth considering for a change of scene without sacrificing
a) fishing quality,
b) quality pub / catering
c) reasonably priced accommodation

You could consider going to gairloch next time, good hotels with excelent food, very good accomadation in strath and very reasonable prices. Plenty of lochs around but the best ones imo are the fairy lochs over at shieldaig

Or the Kinbrace area, Sutherland
only 2 pubs one reputed to be the remotest in the uk ,the Garvault and the other the Forsinard never tried the grub (apart from crisps and peanuts) as we always self catered. Whilst the booze is good the fishing is better. The Garvault when Tony had it used to close when you couldn't handle any more drink.....our sort of landlord. His dug, a big golden retriever was a star too
That's going back a bit now. The Garvault has changed hands a couple of times since and i believe it is up for sale again. The fishing however is still spot on
Now i am older i now prefer the more civilised Caberfeigh pub/resturant in Lochinver.No longer into a tin of stew,tin of potatoes ,tin of peas all in the same pot heated over an ancient Rayburn .

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BROWN TROUT:THE RED SPOTS HAND PAINTED BY GOD

IMO you can't beat Lochinver. As well as the Association waters there's a couple of hundred lochs in North Assynt on the Crofters' permit with some surprisingly large fish to be found in the most unlikely - looking lochans. In May and June youv'e got the place to yourself, though it gets busier in July and August. Nowhere I'd rather be in midsummer.

The Gairloch area looks like it might be of interest as an alternative, though the amount of fishing available either through Gairloch AC or Sheildaig Hotel seems bewildering. Problem is we know the Lochinver area and it's tempting to stick with what you know rather than branch out to pastures new if you only have limited time and don't want to court disappointment or failure.

Has anyone got detailed local info / personal knowledge / experience / suggestions/ recommendations on the many lochs available, ease of access or within easy(ish) walking distance?

Gailoch ac controls most of the lochs with some being close to the roads lochs are fionn loch, bad an sgalaig(roadside), am feur, loch tollaidh(road side), loch boor, to name afew, sheildaig hotel - fairy loch sgeireach, aeroplane loch( very facinating place), spectacles and diamond lochs, about half hour walk up hill with many more along the road side there is a good little book on the fishings go to www. Gairloch-fishing,co.uk

There is a guide to the fishing in .pdf format that you can download here.

http://www.wild-fishing-scotland.co....hp?page=guides

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Don't worry, be happy.
Sandy
Carried it in full, then carry it out empty.

Whilst Gairloch looked like an interesting alternative the vote went for Assynt again. Cam, Fionn, maybe the Gillaroo at Inchnadamph and Assynt itself which we havn't fished before. A few more quid to the local Lochinver economy. Hope there's a choice guest beer or two on offer at the Caberfeidh.

I think you made the right choice. Our annual fishing holiday destinations run like this for past few years:

2007:Assynt
2008:Gairloch
2009:Assynt
2010:Assynt

I rest my case!

I'd say that late May is a bit early for the big lochs and the high altitude waters. Winter is lasting a long time up there these days. Last year lochs like Cam, Veyatie and Fionn didn't even start to fish well until July. The fish were in the deeps bottom feeding with only tiddlers to be found in the shallows.
The best sport was found in small, sheltered, shallow lochs. Awe would be a good bet as it's shallow. You should have a Plan B in case the big waters aren't producing.

Best of luck,

Dave.