Gear Reviews

Last weekend H and I decided that it was time to upgrade the line we had on both or our fishing reels. I ended up going with the Maxima Chameleon in 8lb test, to use on a Quantam 36pro graphite rod that I swapped with H for the new Daiwa carbon fiber ultra light rod that I need to get on here and write about.

A couple of things that I noticed first off about the Chameleon, first I love the dark color. It seamlessly vanishes in the darker waters of Northwest lakes. What I have found though is that its thicker, for an 8lb line, it is easily twice the diameter of other 8lb liter lines that I have. I am not really sure why this is, if it has the same tensile strength. It also, absorbs a certain amount of water, making it reel wet and stay wet. I was getting a nice shower of lake splatter with each reel in. Not enough to make it annoying, but enough to bring it to my attention. For being such a thick line, it has a lot of memory, that you wouldn't get out of a braid. Resulting in at least two instances where at cast, when I flipped the bail, it unwound, even with my finger holding the main line.  Its a monofilament, and so naturally it has a certain amount of stretch to it, which I didn't notice much of. I managed to keep my rig out of the weeds this weekend, and considering the fact that we spent a half day at the lake for the last 3 days I would say that's decent odds.

 

My conclusion: I don't think I would go with the chameleon again as fill line, its too thick, has too much line memory, and absorbs too much water. I give this line a 6 out of 10, as even with the issues, it was casting well and I was getting plenty of action this weekend.

 

 

 

On H's reel, we loaded it up with 8lb Maxima Hi-vis green. Apparently they also make a Hi-vis pink. Though I didn't see it at the store we were at, and H would have left me at the lake had I loaded up her spool with it. For the rod that she was using, we really should have gone with a lighter poundage, as its not rated for this high. But it would work well with the medium action rods that we have like the synergy. Like the above chameleon line by maxima H had a couple of instances where the line unwound after flipping the bail prior to the cast. It didn't appear to be absorbing the water like the Chameleon however, and was casting clean, and with good distance.

My conclusion: I would load this again, it has a good diameter and doesn't appear thicker than normal when compared to the Chameleon, it has a lower line memory, and cast well. I give it a 8 out of 10, and docked it 2 points only for the playing off the spool during casting issues that we had. H out fished me this weekend with it, so it makes up for its downfalls without complaint.