For years I've been using Maxima Ultragreen for salmon and steelhead without any concerns. I know many guides who use it and swear by it.

But, I continue to pay $10+ a spool for fluorocarbon for trout.

I'd be a lot happier paying 1/3 the price for Maxima.

I never liked fluorocarbon. Marketing BS to me, like new fly rods that will outcast and outfish your old one. I use Ultragreen for the leader and Rio Powerflex for the tippet. I do well enough to keep me happy.

All my spin reels are full of it

I find ultragreen way too supple for the butt end of a leader.

Greenlander,
I use Maxima Chameleon for Butss an Mid Sections, sometimes two different colors of amnesia for a strike indicator an i use three different brands for tippets
tippets are: Maxima Ultra Green
Rio Grandmax
Rio Flouroflex plus
these i use for nymphs,streamers depends what my mood is that day
for dry flies i use Ultra Green,Rio Powerflex,Climax
I love Maxima its IMHO the best strongest leader building material in freshwater flyfishing
for saltwater its strictly Seaguar Florocarbon for my leaders no deviation whatsoever

Quote: I agree I use Chameleon.

Quote: I agree I use Chameleon.

I just realized my question was a bit vague .. it was the terminal / tippet end of the equation I'm interested in possibly using ultragreen for. I'll use chameleon for the upper end of my leaders, but if I can replace my 1x-7x tippet spools, which cost me $80+ for a full set with ultragreen tippet which would run me about $25 for the same set.

Is anyone using ultragreen as tippet material?

Dear greenlander,

I've used Ultragreen as tippet for cool/warmwater fly fishing and it works OK for me. I've only used it down to about 4 pound test though which is probably about 3X sized tippet as Maxima tests out low for it's diameter compared to other brands.

I generally use whatever mono tippet I can find on sale, I have no real brand preference and they all seem to work about the same.

Regards,

Tim Murphy

Quote:

Tim, if Maxima tests out low compared to other brands, shouldn't 4lb be somewhere around 4-5x? They also have a 2lb which seems to be about a 6x-7x. Unfortunately there's a gap between 0.007 and 0.005.
So there'd be size missing somewhere between 4x and 7x.

Dear greenlander,

I just checked the stuff, 4 pound test = 4X tippet in Maxima. RIO 4X tests out at 5.5 lbs for Mainstream. Looking at Maxima charts at one internet retailer it looks like they don't offer a 5X diameter tippet material. They sell things in # test designations and go from 4 # - 4X to 2# - 6X.

If you look around you will find that isn't actually the case as Flyfisher's Paradise offers Maxima in 1X - 6X, plus 8X. I have some Chameleon laying around in 5X but it's not handy right now to check the line test but 3 lbs seems to strike me as the right number.

I've always liked Maxima and used Maxima Chameleon exclusively for many years for leaders I built, and not just the butt section, I made entire leaders out of the stuff. It worked nymphing and with dry flies and I found the color and low suppleness was no impediment when I built good leaders and made good casts.

Regards,

Tim Murphy