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HEMATITE, Va. - When Derrick Barr couldn't sell enough cattle to pay the bills for his family's 500-acre farm, he brought in a radically different variety of livestock.

Trout.

Today, the West Virginia native operates one of the mid-Atlantic region's top daily-fee trout-fishing destinations. Anglers from as far away as England, Sweden and Australia have made pilgrimages to fish the creek that flows through Barr's property.

He calls the place Escatawba Farms, from a Native American word that means "clear running water." It's an apt description. The stream, Dunlap Creek, begins at a crystalline limestone spring near Sweet Springs, W.Va., and flows northeast into Alleghany County, Va.

Barr got to know the creek as a youth growing up in nearby Lewisburg. His grandfather owned the farm, and the spring-fed stream was a good place to cool off on a hot summer day.

As a fishery, it harbored mostly smallmouth bass. Barr didn't begin thinking of it as a potential trout stream until the year 2000, two decades after he had graduated from West Virginia University and assumed the farm's management duties.

"People told me I ought to be raising cattle on the farm," he recalled. "I quickly discovered it was a hard way to make a living. There are some serious cattle farmers in Virginia, and I just couldn't play in that league."

Barr began looking for another way to generate income.

"I thought back to something I was told shortly after I got out of college," he said. "I had bought an Orvis Rocky Mountain fly rod and wanted some trout to fish for. I called the Virginia Trout Company and had them put some fish in one of the farm's [spring-fed] ponds.

"The fellow who brought the trout suggested we stock the stream and open it for fishing. I said no, mainly because I didn't want people in here littering and messing up the place."

Two decades later, Barr reconsidered. Friends told him he should set up a fly fishing-only, catch-and-release daily fee operation.

"The owner of a bed-and-breakfast called me and told me she'd steer business my way if I opened a trout fishery. By then, I had seen how similar operations worked, and I had learned that fly fishermen were anything but litterbugs; if anything, they carry out more trash than they bring in," Barr said.

Escatawba Farms opened its doors to anglers in 2000 and has kept them open ever since. Barr and his wife, Karen, maintain the grounds with fishing specifically in mind.

"Early on, we had several j-hook structures installed in the creek to create more fish habitat," he said. "We built a pavilion next to one of the most popular pools so that fishermen could rest and have lunch in the shade. We keep paths mowed through the fields so fishermen can walk to the stream without wading through weeds. During the fishing season, it's a 13-hours-a-day, seven-days-a-week job."

Eleven years in the business have taught Barr some valuable lessons.

Some private fisheries stock trout only once or twice a year. Barr opts instead for small weekly stockings. "That way, there are enough fresh hatchery fish in the stream to give even the most inexperienced fly fishermen a chance at success," he explained.

Barr also avoids stocking trout that weigh more than 6 pounds. "I don't want to stock fish that look unnaturally large for the environment," he said.

To keep anglers from feeling crowded, he limits the number of anglers to no more than eight a day, spread throughout 2 1/2 miles of stream and three ponds. And in midsummer, when water temperatures run high enough to stress or even kill cold water-loving trout, Barr shuts down the fishery. "I close on June 21 and reopen on Sept. 21," he said. "I don't make any money during that time, but I don't damage the resource, either."

The effort pays off every time someone plunks down the $100-a-day rod fee and walks toward the creek, fly rod in hand.

"We've developed a very loyal clientele," Barr said. "We get a lot of fishermen from Virginia, West Virginia and North Carolina. A lot of guys drive four to five hours to fish here. We've hosted fishermen from as far away as England, Sweden and Australia."

It pleases Barr greatly that some of his most loyal anglers hail from his native state.

"Several of our regulars are from the Charleston-Huntington area," he said. "They started finding out about us when Mountain State Outfitters was still in business, and they stayed with us when it closed. Since Joe Lewis opened On the Fly in St. Albans, business [from the Kanawha Valley] has picked up even more."

Barr said operating Escatawba Farms as a trout-fishing destination has been even more rewarding than operating it as a traditional farm.

"It's been a good business for us," he said. "We'll never get rich doing this, but we are very rich in the friendships we've made. We've met people from all over the world, and some of them have become good friends. That's the really rewarding part."

Reach John McCoy at johnmc...@wvgazette.com or 304-348-1231.