I use Maxima a great deal and the loading of it onto a fixed spool reel is absolutely critical...
When loading, if you remember only one thing it has to be: THE NEW LINE COMING OFF THE NEW SPOOL MUST GO ONTO THE REEL IN THE SAME DIRECTION ! If you fail to do this, then every time you turn the reel handle you are putting a ' twist ' into the line, and by the time you put all the line on the reel it will be line a continual ' spring ' and totally useless !!
In other words: If you hold the reel in front of you ( with the spool facing away from you ) and turn the handle, the bale arm ( normally ) turns clockwise. Place the new spool of line in front of the reel WITH THE WRITING FACING THE REEL, AND IF YOU PULL A BIT OF LINE OFF YOU WILL SEE IT COMES OFF THE NEW SPOOL, ALSO TURNING CLOCKWISE.
DO NOT, I REPEAT DO NOT, HAVE THE NEW SPOOL OF LINE WITH IT'S EDGE FACING YOU (ROTATING ON A PENCIL, OR WHATEVER ) AND THEN START WINDING AS THIS ALSO WILL PUT TWIST IN THE LINE AS IT GOES ON THE REEL !!
If you think about it for a minute ( and WATCH the line as it comes off the new spool ) you should clearly see that unless the two spools FACE EACH OTHER with the line leaving both in the same direction, turning the reel handle MUST ADD twist to the line..........
One of the best THREADS I've seen on this subject many years ago, was by a chap called
' Jeff The Moaning Marlow Meldrew ' ( I think that's right ) who covered this very well indeed.
SOME KIND SOUL ON FM MAY WELL REMEMBER IT AND PUT A LINK UP FOR YOU ??.
I suggest you then load the line by using the bottom half of a fishing rod; Put the reel on the rod, thread the line through the rings, join the old and new line together, have someone hold the new spool with the writing FACING YOU, and under slight tension, start to add the new stuff, BUT NOT as others have also said, filling the spool to the lip. It may look nice but it will only give you grief once you start fishing IMHO !!
I read an article on line loading by John Wilson many years ago. He correctly stated that even when loaded correctly, NEW line will always have too much ' spring ' in it for immediate use and he suggested the following :
Once loaded, place reel onto rod and thread line through rings. Tie the line to a fixed point ( such as tree branch ), open the bail arm and walk backwards allowing line to leave the spool until you are 30' or so from the fixed point.
Close the bail arm and wind the reel until you have a good curve in the rod top. Step backwards two paces and HOLD THIS POSITION FOR 15 SECS OR SO !
What happens is that by hold ing this position you have ' stretched ' the line to some extent, which has the effect of making it far more supple, simply because you have removed some of the ' spring ' in the new line and IT DOES NOT AFFECT THE BREAKING STRAIN AT ALL.
Detach the line from the fixed point, wind back onto the reel and you SHOULD have nice supple Maxima, ready to go !!
I have used this method for many years and NEVER had a problem with new line. It works especially well with thicker lines but I always do it for line down to 3lb BS.
As with all fixed spool reels, a certain amount of 'twist ' will be added just because of the winding motion ( when bringing in a decent fish ! ) and to help remove this, try using a John Roberts ' Spin Doctor ' which works very well IF you follow the instructions !!!
My apologies for this long, drawn out explanation, but it's not too easy to get the method across without explaining all the points in detail.
Lastly, let me say that loading line CORRECTLY is not something that can be rushed, but all the effort will be well worth it, and IMHO make your fishing that much better !
OTHERS will have different ideas and for different lines, but for Maxima this works pretty well
Good luck !!