Couldn't agree more, Pete. Its still open for business and Rex's missus seemed very sad about it all when I spoke to her this evening. After all the sale is due to ill health and folks getting on in years.
I popped up tonight armed with a 10' Streamflex #4 - you know the one
- and was pretty bloody surprised when my first fish came in at over 3lb, having taken a damsel nymph fished deep and slow. The second was a similar weight, and the third too, both putting some heinous curves in the rather under-gunned set-up. Damsels were most definitely on as the place was crawling with them although I still didn't see a single trout take an adult!
Fourth fish (from pond 3, taken on a CDC Hopper) topped the others and the rest of the fish of the night, falling to CDC Shuttlecock emerger 18s and CDC Sedge patterns, were all in the 1.5-2.5lb bracket. This is not what we've come to expect of Barlow in recent years and the reason is that the fish have come down from Hathersage.
Although pond 2 was in rude health I can't really say the same for the others but, as we know, the place is proving difficult for the present owners. However it is still very much worth a visit! Whatever you do, don't forget a landing net!
Its a really enchanting place to be on a mid-Summer's evening and the fly life is outstanding. Even though many of the trout are quite recently stocked they're no mugs and I think this may be because the plethora of natural food has them switched on from early days - thus in the four hours I fished tonight I had to follow the hatches and work out what the fish were feeding on to get the results.
All the best to Rex and family
I popped up tonight armed with a 10' Streamflex #4 - you know the one
- and was pretty bloody surprised when my first fish came in at over 3lb, having taken a damsel nymph fished deep and slow. The second was a similar weight, and the third too, both putting some heinous curves in the rather under-gunned set-up. Damsels were most definitely on as the place was crawling with them although I still didn't see a single trout take an adult! Fourth fish (from pond 3, taken on a CDC Hopper) topped the others and the rest of the fish of the night, falling to CDC Shuttlecock emerger 18s and CDC Sedge patterns, were all in the 1.5-2.5lb bracket. This is not what we've come to expect of Barlow in recent years and the reason is that the fish have come down from Hathersage.
Although pond 2 was in rude health I can't really say the same for the others but, as we know, the place is proving difficult for the present owners. However it is still very much worth a visit! Whatever you do, don't forget a landing net!
Its a really enchanting place to be on a mid-Summer's evening and the fly life is outstanding. Even though many of the trout are quite recently stocked they're no mugs and I think this may be because the plethora of natural food has them switched on from early days - thus in the four hours I fished tonight I had to follow the hatches and work out what the fish were feeding on to get the results.
All the best to Rex and family
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