[Mike Barrio]

A cracking photo of Will Shaw from his recent article about a fishing trip with a Barrio GT90i fly line.

Photo courtesy of Al Pyke ... Nice one!

The Barrio GT90i Fly Line

Scotland is great at many things.

Haggis is superb. So are Scotch pies. Whiskey is not bad either. And we haven’t even mentioned the fact that the Scots invented everything in the world worth having, or that Edinburgh is the most beautiful city in the world.

Another thing Scotland is not bad at is wind. It blows a bit up here. And when you’re out on the Western Isles it blows a lot. Really, quite a lot.

Which brings me to this summer and a trip out-west ......................... Click here to read the full story

[Mike Barrio]

The Barrio GT90i intermediate in semi opaque pale olive and pale brown, great for a stealthy approach to wary, selective fish

Ideal for keeping your flies under control in the sub-surface taking zone, the pale olive version is slow sinking at approx 1.0 to to 1.5 IPS and the pale brown version sinks a bit faster at approx 2.5 to 3.0 IPS.



http://www.flylineshop.com/barrio-gt90i.html for more information

[Mike Barrio]

The new Barrio SLXi and GT90i intermediate fly lines ..... Slick shooting shades of pale

See https://www.flylineshop.com/shop.html

[Jeff Donovan]

Lovely looking lines & such subtle colours..

[Marc Fauvet]

finally had the chance to go spend some quality time with the SLXi 5wt.
its exactly what i've always wanted in this type of line. 
i didn't stretch it at all before playing around to see how it behaved as such. first few casts weren't 'ideal' straight but that quickly changed. awesome, specially for a nylon core and still cold water. there had been ice on the lake in the morning.
full line casts with just two false casts are really simple. (slipping some line on FC and BC during the false casts)
shorter casts are a breeze.
everything turned over well and straight, line, leader and a wet fly with the hook bend cut off. i even had a strike from a school of perch ! 

rods- Stickman 5wt and Sage TCR 4wt
a little bit nicer on the 5wt but no probs whatsoever with the 4.

of equal interest to me for a lot of river fishing i do, i did a lot of rolls and Speys with it and its almost as easy as with the floating model. this is going to be a real bonus for wets and small streamers when i don't want to use a floating line/sink tip combo. 

Mike, this is one hell of a good line. congrats and thanks !
cheers,
marc

[Mark Zhang]

First time wet my Barrio Intermediate line (1-1.5) in Lochter two weeks ago. The result was brilliant, 6 fish in net and 6 lost in half way for 4 hours. Very easy to cast it, slow sinking, so I can have a slow retrieve. The only thing is the middle part of line will float on surface. You have to retrieve it a few time, let it go under the surface, once it's under the surface, it will sink nicely. Thanks, Mike. One of my best fly line. 

Regards,

Mark

[Marc Fauvet]

The only thing is the middle part of line will float on surface. You have to retrieve it a few time, let it go under the surface, once it's under the surface, it will sink nicely.

hi,
it might have a little factory 'chemical slime' on it (for lack of a better word...  )
just run the line through a soaped rag or sponge and rinse it off and it'll all sink uniformly.
cheers,
marc

[Mike Barrio]

Good advice, thanks Marc

Yes, new intermediate lines will often take a trip or two to settle in properly, but just pulling the line through a gripped damp cloth will usually help to get things going properly.

Best wishes
Mike

[Mark Zhang]

Thanks for the advice. Will give it a go soon or later. Cheers.

Regards,

Mark

[Hamish Young]

A day out with the SLXi 'quick'.

I was up on a loch near me last Monday with some friends, a promising warm morning as we tackled up gave way to some tough conditions for early June. Once afloat we were faced with a very cold wind and very little surface activity - despite copious hatches of olives and other goodies fit for plump trout to scoff on.

The wind was so cold I made the decision to fish the quicker sinking of the new Barrio SLXi from pretty much my first cast until the end of the day.
I had a good day finishing with 10 trout to about 2.25lbs (all returned) and out fished my boat partner for the day, not because he is a poor fisherman (far from it) but he didn't have what I did and that was the right tools for the job so he was always going to have a tougher day - he still caught fish.

Anyway, back to the line. The quicker of the SLXi exceeded even my high expectations in a boat fishing situation. On the day I quickly settled down into a nice easy rhythm with this line which (thanks to its heritage) roll casts delightfully and (despite being bloody cold) the nylon cored line remained supple and remarkably 'fankle' free all day. Even casting across the boat (ie. with a boat partner 'in the way') or off the wrong shoulder good long casts are really easy. I had added a short (sub 6ft) 'big butt' tapered leader to the front of the line and off that fished a compound leader with all sorts of ironmongery attached to it during the day. The SLXi carried them all with impunity and the quicker 3" sink rate was perfect for the conditions.

So what it boils down to is this, the SLXi - in either sink rate - is just a fantastic line and a great evolution of the original SLX. It's easy to cast, does what you expect, fishes as it should and is the right tool for the job.
I don't often say this, but I can't see how to improve the line - it's perfect.

H

[Mike Barrio]

I've had a number of enquiries recently from customers asking for a longer version of the GT90i intermediate line. It seems they are finding it reasonably easy to rattle the backing knot up through the rings and would like a longer line to take advantage of these distances without the worry of the backing knot.

Interesting, perhaps something to consider over the winter project months

[Mike Barrio]

Watch out for a review of the Barrio SLXi intermediate line in the December edition of Fly Fishing & Fly Tying Magazine

[Mike Barrio]

Barrio SLXi Intermediate fly line

[Hamish Young]

Watch out for a review of the Barrio SLXi intermediate line in the December edition of Fly Fishing & Fly Tying Magazine

It was a good and interesting review but I'd add this - based on my experience of both lines - you need both lines in your armoury, pure dead honest you do
I really do not think I'll be afloat on a loch again without both there ready to go.

H

[Allan Liddle]

Handy on running water as well.