• You need to be a registered member of Barbel Fishing World to post on these forums. Some of the forums are hidden from non-members. Please refer to the instructions on the ‘Register’ page for details of how to join the new incarnation of BFW...

Maxima chameleon

Dave Brooksbank

Dave Brooksbank

Senior Member & Supporter
Bought a new fixed spool reel recently mainly for float fishing, on one of the spools put Drennan float fish and the other loaded up with maxima 5lb for use on the waggler. I know it's old skool line and used to use it
years ago, Does anyone here still use it, and what do you think of it.
 
Have bad memories of that line Dave,.. although I seem to remember it was advertised as " low memory " the line twist drove me barmy.
Compared with other lines in those days it was passable, ... maybe it's improved. I thought its shelf life was limited as well , but I'm talking about a long time ago .
 
I have used it for years and, despite using and trying a few alternatives, I still use it. However, my use for it is generally of no more than 6lb breaking strain. I've not used it in 10lb plus for decades. It's always worth bearing in mind that the stated breaking strains are significantly underrated.
 
Maxima is not a floating line. You will not beat Floatfish or Bayer Perlon for float fishing.
I still use maxima in the 5lb/6lb for Stillwater feeder fishing as it sinks well.
 
Same as Dave T - the twist on it (which was then - 20 years ago - and still is now) about the worst of any well known brand I've ever used. I lost count of the number of major birds nests I had due to the twist, which shouldn't have really happened, and probably wouldn't have happened with most other lines.

I know a lot of people swear by it and have never used anything else, but I eventually gave up on it after two seasons (20 years ago) and consigned the whole lot to the bin. Bought a spool last year just to give it a go to see if 20 years worth of development had gone into it, but I found it to be exactly the same and as frustrating as ever. Took it all off the reel and binned it again.

I now use Reflo Power below 5lb, Reflo Power Max 5 to 8lb, Korum 8 to 10lb, Berkley Big Game for anything above 10lb. For anything that requires floating line, I use Bayer Perlon exclusively (although I do have a stack of Drennan Float Fish spools which came in an eBay job lot).
 
Iain Tutt said:
Maxima is not a floating line. You will not beat Floatfish or Bayer Perlon for float fishing.
I still use maxima in the 5lb/6lb for Stillwater feeder fishing as it sinks well.
Click to expand...

.....but if you're intending to waggler fish on medium to large still waters then a sinking line is much better than a floating line, to beat surface 'drift'. IMHO.
 
Maxima is an ideal light trotting line, in 2.5 and 3lb. For the waggler 4lb is fine, yes it has some stretch, but thats a bonus fishing so light. Some very good anglers like it for trotting in 2.5lb with fine hook links for roach and dace. Problem I find with the other mentioned is it so thick for the breaking strain. If Float-fish or Bayer were true to the breaking strain, so 2.5 was the correct b/s its diameter would make it thin and perfect for trotting. JMO.
 
I remember this stuff being the go to mainline when I was old enough to read the angling magazines of the day. We’re taking late 80s here... Pretty sure Wilson was spooled up with it when he ran through a few of his set ups on the telly (don’t quote me on that, but I’m pretty sure). Anyways, I respooled an old Shimano with 8lb Chameleon a few years back, for a chub/tench set up. My experience of it was one of wind knots, poor knot strength and a breaking strain of about half of what it said on the spool. I think times have moved on...
 
Crikey the Maxima and Bayer Perlon are blasts from the past. It's so long ago that I can't remember whether or not they were good or bad. I seem to remember the MC was considered better than Platil. There's so much to choose from today that MC and Bayer don't even feature in the Tackle Box 'test-off'.

Ps tried to download but it was not an allowable file extension
 
Maxima Chameleon is extremely popular as a leader for sea Trout and Salmon anglers everywhere. Fly or spinning. On the Wear 10lb BS is usual and the anglers expect to encounter double figure sea Trout at night occasionally. For Salmon, daytime, probably 15lb+ BS. They can go
to 30lb, a 15lb sea Trout was caught last week.
Personally I don't like how dark it looks, at least to me, the fish don't seem to mind though, certainly at night.
My Salmon and sea Trout leader materials are presently 15lb clear Maxima, 12lb clear Maxima, 12. 6. lb 0.026 Reflo powerline. Bayer perlon 8 lb 0.025 and occasionally 6lb. 8lb Perlon is my go to hooklength for Barbel.
In the game fishing discussions it emerged that a lot of the quality problems experienced were due to some 'new' spools being over 20 years old!
Never found twist in Maxima any better or worse than any other nylon but back then I was loading a fixed spool from a revolving new spool putting a twist in every revolution of the bale arm. Now I know better and I'm sure most anglers do too.
Can't help thinking this line twist is down to the loading method. Perhaps Maxima spool their line differently to others?
It's very easy to put two twists a revolution into the reel line if it's done the 'wrong' way.
Anyone experienced twist on the centerpin?
 
Interestingly enough, I was looking at some spools in the tackle shop the other day, and it looked a lot lighter and redder than it used to be.
 
It's very popular too with people that still tie their own fishing leaders. By that I mean a stepped down leader. I saw a guy in France that could make 22' leader turn over without any fly line out o the tip, amazing stuff has its place still for long trotting.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top