Unstoppable

A windy morning on Providence Atoll, the remote outer islands of the Seychelles, doesn’t usually signal danger but just another day of world-class flats fishing. Justin was working his way down the blustery edge of a finger flat, wading alone in knee-deep water. His guide and fishing partner were a good 100 meters away on the opposite edge, leaving Justin in that quiet, meditative yet intense space every angler knows.

He had just broken off his second triggerfish of the morning and began wading on when instinct made him glance over his shoulder. GTs often ghost in from behind, but this wasn’t a GT.

A massive bull shark, giant head, towering dorsal, easily four meters long, slid up onto the flat and turned directly toward him.

“I remember thinking I’d better get this right,” Justin recalls.

With no time to hesitate, he spun his rod around and drove the tip straight into the shark’s nose. But unlike the countless lemons and nurse sharks he’d tapped away over the years, this one didn’t flinch.  Instead, it surged upward… and inhaled his Mako 9550.

In one violent snap, the shark tore off with the lower section of his rod and reel clenched in its teeth. Justin braced for the worst—then realized, incredibly, that all his limbs were still where they belonged.

Ten meters away, the shark spit out its prize. Justin gathered his fly line and retrieved what was left: the bottom of his rod, tooth-scarred and unforgettable… and his Mako reel, completely unscathed.

The shark left the bite marks on the cork of rod.  The Mako 9550 left with its reputation intact.

Built to last. Built for real-world chaos.