The old standard, for a reason. 5 reasons, actually.
There are a lot of high-tech leader materials out there, but if you visit one of our lodges in Alaska, British Columbia, the Bahamas or Chile, the material that we’re most likely to suggest you knot to your fly is Maxima Ultragreen.
Why is that?
- It knots well. Spend some time on the water and you quickly learn that knots are useless unless they seat well, and Maxima Ultragreen just tends to cinch up consistently with knots like, say, the non-slip mono loop.
- It’s pretty stiff. We’re lucky to spend most of our time fishing for big fish. All around the world, big fish like big flies. Big flies need to be turned over by a relatively stiff leader material. Ultragreen gets ‘er done – not so stiff that the fly lands with a ‘thwack’, but stiff enough to turn over that 1/0 Spawning Shrimp or that 2/0 Intruder.
- It’s not going to break the bank. These days, 220 yards of 15 lb Maxima Ultragreen will run you right around $12. 220 yards is a lot of leaders.
- It’s strong. We don’t have any IGFA-rated instruments lying around the house, but it sure seems like Ultragreen in any given rating between 10 and 30 pounds is awfully strong relative to its peers.
- It’s abrasion-resistant. Some leader materials (especially fluorocarbon materials) are extremely ‘hard’ but don’t knot well. Some materials (especially traditional monos) take a knot really easily but also get banged up quickly. We find Maxima Ultragreen to offer a great combination of ‘knot-ability’ and abrasion resistance. We fish some snaggy, rocky, corally waters, and Ultragreen just tends to hold up.
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I am new to fly fishing and have heard from others to use maxima for your leaders. does this mean i can use it as my tippet on my 6wt rod reel floating line setup? if yes , what size line of the ultragreen should i use? all this tippet to leader stuff gets me confused. my wife uses a 5wt rod reel and line set up. what should i do for her setup?
Mark: this should help, lots of good info!
http://www.flyfishusa.com/tackle-tips/leaders/about-leaders.html#principles
Hi Mark, thanks for stopping by! Ed’s link is a good one. For most trout fishing situations, you’re going to be best off with a pre-made tapered leader. Maxima is a great material to use for fish like salmon and steelhead, but it tends to be too heavy and stiff for most trout fishing. Have fun with it!
Ultragreen reason #6: it holds its strength when repeatedly stressed/ stretched (and even broken). There are pleny of newfangled copolymer lines/ leader materials out there that boast great abrasion resistance, knot strength and small diameters . . . but if you start out with a 6′ section in the a.m., but the time you’ve hooked 3 kings and the bottom 17 times that leader is fatigued and not breaking anywhere near the stated stength.
Maxima is overly thick (and, therefore, strong) for its stated test. So there’s some cheating going on when UG 10lb (breaking at 12lbs fresh) has the same diameter of Brand X 12lb but is thicker than Brand X 10lb. That’s my only complaint.
I’ve used every line I can find against Maxima over the years. Orvis has some v. good mono and FC tippet materials. Seagur makes a fine fluorocarbon leader material. And there are many others. But the gold stnadard remains Maxima Ultragreen.
Reiterating another posters comment that Maxima is notorious for having a bigger diameter then is stated on the roll. I like Maxima for larger fish/fly use, But when I need accurate diameters for constructing a trout leader for example, I do not use Maxima. The over diameter trick fools spin fishermen, but should not fool fly anglers that often rely on accurate diameters.
Here in the UK I use Ultragreen for ALL my fly fishing, even using 3lb line to fish size 20 dries! I’ve tried various fluorocarbon and copolymer lines but I’ve always gone back to Ultragreen – it’s the best, most reliable line out there and an added bonus is it’s amongst the cheapest.