Slim, sleek and firm, the Maxia is made in Italy by Modern Flies. Look closely at the photograph of the ring on this rod. You should spot that there is no thread used to attach the rings to these rods. The makers claim their technique of bonding an extra layer of carbon cloth over the foot of the ring is lighter than conventional thread whippings and epoxy varnish. Very hard to say if their claim is justified but I have no reason to argue with them either.

When I heard this rod was coming and heard it linked with wet-fly fishing, I imagined tips wobbling and waves rolling along the rod leg of the loop. Neither happened!

The Maxia feels light and long and is a stiff, powerful rod, which is a strange thing to say about a three-weight. How that seems to work is this has what I’d describe as a 'fast action'; the tip is relatively delicate and bends easily and the very slender blank becomes stiffer rapidly towards the middle sections. The effect is a rod which can flick out a loop of #3 line and really only bends significantly in the top third of the rod. Compared with the slow action rods I knew years back as ‘wet-fly’ rods, this is chalk to their cheese.

During one session with the Maxia the wind got up and I felt the #3 lacked the mass to batter into the wind. Switching to a #4 line helped a little and the Maxia hardly seemed to notice. The slim blank sliced through the wind, bent a little more against the fractionally heavier line, and that was about all. Personally, for conventional casting and just a shade more 'feel', I might match this rod with a #4 line rather than the #3 the makers prefer.

That fast action means this has no noticeable tip bounce. How relevant that is given the length and the style of fishing I would use this for, is moot. The blurb mentions Czech and French Nymphing, and I would agree. This flicks out a weighted fly easily, its length allows me to cover a lot of water before flicking out again and again. On the other hand the simple length of this means it feels a little clumsy when I want to point a shoot with a single dry – oh, it can do it but I would rather fish a nymph or a team of spiders on this and have a shorter rod for a dry. Then try French Nymph style, and that rod-length makes a long leader much more manageable.

Build quality is unusual mainly because the rings are not attached conventionally, which leaves me wondering what happens when a ring wears and needs to be replaced. The makers have fitted a high-grade grip which I like. However, when fitting the grip, epoxy glue has been squeezed out onto the lip of the reel-seat. Which isn't an unusual occurrence but its unusual that it is not removed.

This is an exceptional, long, light-line rod and I can see why a number of top competition anglers have adopted it. It is possibly not to all tastes given the stiffness and style of action, but this Maxia is quite a special fishing rod.