Barrio SLX

rrw35 · Post by **rrw35** » Tue Oct 02, 2012 11:03 am

Took the plunge and ordered the SLX in a 5 for my birthday.

Looks really promising, slick, supple and the olive colour looks perfect for rivers.

Really fast delivery too.

Look forward to giving it a throw.

Thanks Mike.

Paul Arden · Post by **Paul Arden** » Tue Oct 02, 2012 11:32 am

It caught two Asp yesterday!

rrw35 · Post by **rrw35** » Tue Oct 02, 2012 11:49 am

Thought the head would be a bit short for you Paul..

Paul Arden · Post by **Paul Arden** » Tue Oct 02, 2012 4:54 pm

Yes! However for streamer fishing where Speys are the norm, and without the need for really long casts, it's great to fish. Missed a couple of takes while on the running line today.

rrw35 · Post by **rrw35** » Tue Oct 02, 2012 7:48 pm

Fished with mine today for a few hours.

Very impressed. No memory, slick, cast well without being abrupt on the turnover. Roll cast and switch cast well, but forget trying to overhang the head by much.

I actually thought it was going to be more of a brutal line that it was .

Heard some complaining on other forums the turnover is too abrupt, but they're obviously spas casters. :p

Green colour will be very good on rivers. Need to get more testing done with it on the river.

First impressions it is very like a TT or an iline without the associated price tag.

JohnT · Post by **JohnT** » Wed Oct 03, 2012 5:55 pm

Would the 8# SLX be ok for saltwater throwing clousers? I currently us a Snowbee XS Ivory

rrw35 · Post by **rrw35** » Wed Oct 03, 2012 8:15 pm

I would say yes. Going to try an 8 on my switch rod next year. Shoots very well and consistently turns over gold heads and big daddy long legs style flies.

Can figure of eight it and it doesnt retain any memory.

Very good for lift and shoot style casting on stillwaters too. Not got trying it on a river yet.

Good beginners line imo, as you can really feel the rod load with very little line out and it takes little effort to get it out a good distance.

It will be better in wind and handle larger flies than the xs.

I dont think you would compromise the taper much, if you wanted to cut the tip back a bit to use polyleaders or big flies.

totsy · Post by **totsy** » Thu Oct 04, 2012 12:33 pm

rrw35 wrote:but forget trying to overhang the head by much.

I find this the most interesting thing with this line, seems to be able to be held up with far longer overhang than similar 'spey type' line tapers.

Ta, Lee.

rrw35 · Post by **rrw35** » Thu Oct 04, 2012 2:23 pm

Must be me then Lee.

Got trying it on the river today. Super line for wets and nymph fishing.

The coating on it is really good, feels better than the older Barrio lines. Really slick and supple, with zero memory, even if it's a bit cold.

scotty9 · Post by **scotty9** » Thu Oct 04, 2012 7:02 pm

Bloody hell, found something you like Ryan?

That doesn't come around every day! :p

Ben_D · Post by **Ben_D** » Thu Oct 04, 2012 7:09 pm

scotty9 wrote:Bloody hell, found something you like Ryan? That doesn't come around every day! :p

Paul Arden · Post by **Paul Arden** » Thu Oct 04, 2012 10:23 pm

JohnT wrote:Would the 8# SLX be ok for saltwater throwing clousers? I currently us a Snowbee XS Ivory

Interesting question, John. Where this line excels is throwing heavy flies close to medium range, especially with Speys. That's what it was designed for. It's OK overhead, but limited. Being a freshwater line it will be very buoyant in the sea, unnecessarily so in fact. I like the taper. It needs some sort of line dressing to make it slicker. Preferably one that more liquid than gel.

Better than the XS? Hell yes. And for your application with a Clouser much better. With a heavy fly on the end it's hard to overhead 90 ft with the SLX, even harder with the XS. Must go, nymphets are calling.

Cheers, Paul

_Ré · Post by **_Ré** » Fri Oct 05, 2012 5:15 am

I have the 8 weight. I only played with it for probably 40 minutes but I had the feeling it is much less capable to throw big flies (pike flies around 12-15 cm) then for example the 5 weight (zonkers, gurgles and deceivers around 10 cm). I think the diameter of the tip part of the lines are very similar, so it is not getting proportionally thicker with the line weight.
I really like the 5 and the 6 weight.

Marc LaMouche · Post by **Marc LaMouche** » Fri Oct 05, 2012 7:44 am

it wasn't designed as a pike line, Rè.
in fact the taper is opposite (reversed, rear-weight biased) to what most manufacturers are designing as pike/big fly lines. (front biased weight)

but !... my 8wt will do it very well by cutting back the tip and using either tips or a heavier butt section leader. 20cm flash flies and 10-15cm bunnies are no problem

cheers,
marc

Ben_D · Post by **Ben_D** » Fri Oct 05, 2012 9:04 am

Marc LaMouche wrote:it wasn't designed as a pike line, Rè.
in fact the taper is opposite (reversed, rear-weight biased) to what most manufacturers are designing as pike/big fly lines. (front biased weight)

but !... my 8wt will do it very well by cutting back the tip and using either tips or a heavier butt section leader. 20cm flash flies and 10-15cm bunnies are no problem

cheers,
marc

Exactly Marc!!

Tip diameters should be inproportion with belly diameter. i.e heavier line heavier tip.

Cheers

Ben

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