I provide professional guiding services on Lough Arrow, located in the West of Ireland.

Lough Arrow is by far our most popular destination and a hidden gem when it comes to Wild Brown Trout fishing. It is one of the great Irish trout fishing loughs, where our target, Wild Brown Trout, weighs from 1.5lb to 6lb.

A short 20 minute drive from Sligo on the main Dublin road (the N4), lies Lough Arrow, one of Ireland's famous fly fishing Trout lakes. This freshwater lake lies mostly in County Sligo with a smaller part in Roscommon. The lake covers an area of 12.47 square kilometres, and with it's beautiful islands and long rush seedbeds it gives long drifts which makes it a dream for dry fly or wetfly fishing for the visiting angler.

Lough Arrow is a limestone lough incredibly rich with wildlife and fly life, it is mainly spring fed but also has some feeder streams. The season opens on the first of April and it is definitely worth a cast. Fishing over the month of April consists of buzzer, dry fly or pulling over the shallows. The best news is the trout have seen little pressure with Arrow only opening and the trout are eager to grab a fly. Make sure you have extra clothing and layering as April can be quite cold. Some good evening fishing can be had which consists of fishing dry buzzer into the dark (please see my blog on fishing arrow in April).

May is one of the key months on Lough Arrow for fishing, with large hatches of Mayfly appearing. Fishing this time of the month can be outstanding on both dry mayflys and wet style mayfly and trout are usually free rising in most parts of the Lough. Later in the month the Spent fishing takes over and we see the larger fish coming up from the deeps and often getting caught and sometimes getting lost, with some fish coming in around the 7lb mark.


Caenis fishing
June gets some excellent fishing with Caenis starting to appear and some early morning fishing to be had. "Early morning" on Arrow means 5am to 10am! This fishing is for the more advanced angler as these fish spook very easily and casting has to be spot on. Throughout the month we see Murrough and Caddis starting to appear more and fishing dry or wet style patterns can be good.

Green Peter fishing
July sees Mayfly starting to appear again and also sees a fall of Soldier Beetles. Fishing can be excellent with Trout free rising again on both Mayfly and Beetle. Lough Arrow is one of the few lakes that still gets a hatch of Green Peter and fishing Peter into the dark, from 6pm til dark, can produce some great fish. August and September also offers some good fishing with Olives appearing and still some small Sedges around, Dry fly and Wet fly fishing can be quite awarding.

Lough Arrow is definitely one of my favourite fishing spots and my favourite office to work from.

Jackie and Tom on Arrow

You can arrange booking with me throughout the year using email (mahonjackie@gmail.com), or through the details on my contact page. Please note that if we don't answer your query straight away, that means we are out on the water guiding and we will get back to you as soon as possible.

Once bookings are made, I will contact you a few days in advance to talk about conditions, directions and times.

Where do we meet?
We meet up in the morning at Ballinafad Pier:
(click to view on Google Maps)
meet at Ballinafad pier


There is a very comprehensive guide to Lough Arrow on the Fishing in Ireland website, including their Angling Guide and map (pdf).

Please note: We fish rain or shine, unless the weather is deemed unsafe by Jackie. In the event of dangerous weather, we will reschedule for a future date. To protect our wild fish this is a catch and release (C&R) fly fishing guide service.

To learn more please scroll down to the sections below or click these links:
- "Let's Go Fishing..." options throughout the season
- Accommodation around lough Arrow
- Other activities around Arrow

Accommodation around Lough Arrow


Other Activities around Lough Arrow

If you're having a break from fishing or would like to see other attractions in the area around Lough Arrow

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