My very first keeper mako, a 277-pounder that I caught back in 1982, was on Maxima 30-pound IGFA tournament mono, a 9.23-to-1 experience, where the fish weighed more than nine times the breaking strength of the line. I trusted Maxima fishing line back then and I still trust it today.
NEW BEGINNINGS
Although monofilament and fluorocarbon have been Maxima’s specialty for the better part of six decades, they got into the superbraid race a few years back and after considerable development, introduced their Braid 8 product to the marketplace. Like its sister products, Braid 8 is designed, engineered and manufactured in Germany. When it was introduced into the Australian marketplace back in 2013, it won the coveted AFTA (Australian Fishing Trade Association) Best of Show award for the best new fishing line. Now that it has recently been introduced in the USA, I’m sure that many of our fellow anglers are going to jump on the Braid 8 bandwagon and give it a try.
Initially, Braid 8 is going to be offered in two colors: stealthy ultra-green and HV (high visibility) yellow. Braid 8 will be packaged in both 150-yard and 300-yard spools (150-meter and 300-meter outside of the USA), with strength ratings of 10-, 20-, 30-, 40-, 50-, 65- and 80-pound test. I was able to get a pair of 300-yard spools of the 40-pound Braid 8 in green and yellow to test for this product review, and my eye was immediately drawn to favor the HV yellow for my type of inshore and near offshore sportfishing.
TEST CONDITIONS
Limited to putting it on a reel that could handle the 300-yard spool capacity, I drafted one of my trusty Penn 975 International conventional revolving spool baitcasters attached to a 6-1/2-foot Penn Torque jigging/casting rod to act as the test platform for determining what this line could do out on the briny. I prefer hi-vis braids for the majority of my inshore and offshore outfits, since it is easy to see where it’s at during every fluid moment, either working a fish around obstacles and obstructions if you are high and dry, or keeping it clear of the usual impediments like chines, trim tabs, rudders, props and outdrives if you are bending a rod on a boat. The hi-vis problem is easily solved when trying to fool your oftentimes wary piscatorial adversaries by using either a camo mono or fluorocarbon top-shot. Accordingly, I tied on a 7-foot section of 40-pound fluorocarbon leader material via a Yucatan (a.k.a. Bristol) knot to keep the “high visibility” factor at least two meters away from my lures.
Hampered somewhat by a Nor’easter and an immediate follow-up from the remnants of Hurricane Joaquin, I was able to take my outfit of choice up to Long Island’s north shore to my fave spot and had some fun throwing popping plugs and swimmers to swarms of hungry blues and the occasional bass. The new Maxima Braid 8 gets high marks for being able to pack a decent amount of line onto a reel, with its round construction lying very evenly on the 975’s spool. The HV yellow worked exactly as advertised, allowing me to quickly observe the escape tactics of every chopper and linesider that I was able to fool with my artificials, and make the appropriate counter-moves to keep running up and down the rocky shoreline to a minimum.
I was able to easily snap off 50- to 60-yard casts with a minimum of energy using 1-1/2-ounce poppers and swimmers and could have reached out even further with just a bit more effort. The New Maxima Braid 8 gets high marks for knot strength, durability when cast into a pack of feeding bluefish, and for castability when slinging artificials during less-than-ideal windy conditions.
THE THINNER SUPERBRAID
Although Maxima is very tight-lipped about the specific engineering and technology that goes into the design and manufacturing process of their fishing lines, the tech info I got from them is that Braid 8 is constructed with a proprietary, 8-yarn round construction braiding technology. The process interweaves the micro-fibers tightly and rounder than many other braids. The sealed and smooth surface is achieved by Maxima’s new Triple Coating Treatment (TCT) which leads to exceptional castability and outstanding abrasion resistance. In order to ensure a high-strength connection as well as a sensitive contact to the fish, Maxima Braid 8 is pre-stretched and heat-fixed, a critical step many other competitive brands overlook.
In comparison to another similar product line, I found the factory-spec line diameter of the 40-pound Maxima Braid 8 is 0.011-inch, slightly thinner than the other two lines’ factory measurements of 0.012-inch and 0.013-inch diameter respectively; Maxima’s claim of Braid 8 being a thinner superbraid line is not just marketing hype! If all this sounds appealing, check out Maxima’s new Braid 8 at a tackle shop near you. Maxima fishing lines are distributed by Maxima USA, based in Oregon.
