Maxima clear nylon is a great product, and is our choice of material for the butt sections in our hand tied leaders. It is also great tippet material for steelhead or for streamer fishing here on the Yellowstone in slightly off color water.
We were utterly shocked to see how weak Maxima tested in thinner diameters, (2X-6X). Not only was Maxima Clear thicker than the industry average in 2X, 4X, and 6X it also had significantly weaker breaking strengths, even when compared to brands with thinner diameters – ouch!
Immediately we tested some larger sizes and were relived to see that 10 pound maxima was actually breaking at 15 lbs. 15 lb. Maxima was breaking at 20 lbs. Clearly Maxima has the most amount of work to do with correcting their advertised size and pound test.
Maxima offers nice large arbor tippet spools but no tippet tender (other than the plastic hangtag cover that never stays on). These spools are the perfect candidate for a shark tooth cutter tippet tender. The size of the spools are a bit cumbersome for lanyard or for pockets, but are fine for a boat bag. Also, there is no way to clip spools together so plan on coming up with a tippet lease of some kind if you want to keep them together.
Ideal usage: Larger sizes (10 pound and up) for building mid and butt sections for leaders. Also as tippet material for streamer fishing, as this stiffer material really helps turn over large, heavy weighted streamers and other big flies. Do NOT purchase Maxima clear in 2X or smaller, instead get Rio Powerflex which is much thinner and also stronger.