The New Mako 7450

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

This report is going to be a departure from the typical fishing reports pages. Certainly since Violet came along, I’ve slowed way down with the “every day I fished all year for a decade” reports. Lately, this page has been updated occasionally with tournament results of note, or with things I think share-worthy. This report is the latter, and while not a tournament won by me or someone I care about, is no less thrilling than either. For sure, it’s the product of work–the type of which I’m more familiar with in a tournament or record pursuit than in my professional life.

Simply, this post is an introduction of the Mako 7450, a trout reel. It was designed by my friend and Keys angler of note Tom Kapusta. Over the last 18 months, Tom has engineered the first completely new Mako model since Jack launched the brand in 2008. It’s a trout reel, which is the first freshwater reel in the lineup, and completes the Mako lineup in a way that feels at once overdue and perfectly timed.

Tom is the largest part of this story, by far, though the account of this reel can be traced back so far as to be from a different era. When Jack first began Mako Reels he mentioned eventual plans to make a light trout reel, but was never able to complete the task before his untimely passing from cancer. All that remained of Jack in the freshwater space were the amazing reels he produced under the Charlton Reels moniker, in the 8000 series. The smallest was the 8350C, its larger sister the 8450C. Each came with different spools, and both were made with a lighter feel and more delicate aesthetic. Between them they covered every rod weight from 1-7.  Jack was a rare talent, creating icons in the saltwater like the 8600B as well as reels that were at home on an English chalk stream.

Tom Kapusta has proven himself no less capable than Jack Charlton in his ability to design for a new and relatively miniature task. I can’t stress how difficult this is: when a person is tuned to a certain frequency of dimension and feel, scaling up or down is a much harder task than simply multiplying by a decimal. It requires a proper feel of the status quo, as well as a stepping out of the box-like thinking that often keeps people stuck forever in the same square. This reel is a joy to hold, balancing perfectly on a 5-weight rod at 6.4 ounces–and I can attest to its additional ability to withstand the “rock impact test”, twice by my own hands. Both Jack and Tom are, to me, people that I look up to intellectually. To compare the two would be fun, but pointless: at a certain point, two men on top of a mountain are both at its summit.

This journey with Tom started nearly two years ago, and I’ve watched most moments of the design from start to finish. Of course there have been stretches where things ended up silent for a time until the next piece showed up, a new idea wrapped in a Crown Royal bag for Tom and I to touch, look at and inspect with our fingers. We purchased and tore apart a lot of reels, to start. Some reels that I knew had elements of Jack’s original design work within them, contracted by some companies, started the process. Other reels that were developed using some of the pieces that were re-imagined by others were also deconstructed, cataloged and often discarded save for a tiny piece of inspiration. Mostly, Tom learned what not to do. What Tom did was separate from all of these designs the few things that were worth improving on, and set them gently into a wholly original design that he executed in a form that feels familiar in hand. My feeling, holding the last prototype before we went to production, was that this is the reel Jack might have developed had be lived long enough to.

Throughout the process, we were pretty obsessed with the way our hands interact with the reel. Dimensions like the diameter, width, drag knob, were as important as the materials used internally–carbon fiber, titanium, aluminum. A personal favorite is the drag knob, that has the feel of a watch bezel being turned thanks to a clever addition to the design that Tom threw in at one point and remains for me a highlight. In my mind, Tom lived up to an expectation I didn’t even know I had about what was possible for a Mako trout reel.

So consider this post an introduction to the product, about which I am both excited and exceedingly proud. And also consider this post a public recognition of Tom Kapusta, who engineered a completely new piece of equipment that will stand the test of time. The team at Mako reels is currently producing the best saltwater reel on the market, and I have total confidence that their ability to assemble and produce this reel. I can think of no better home for a perfect design than them, and Tom has also (generously, to say the very least) contributed a ton of his time outside of the design aspects toward getting all of the production engineering sorted with the final product. If you ever want to hold a perfect piece of equipment, pick up one of these reels and a 5-weight and go fish–it’s what the whole point of the project was. You’ll experience a single object that has a lot of blood, sweat and genius contained inside it. Pre-orders are available on the Mako website, but here’s a link just in case I’ve made my case well:

Preorder New Model 7450

 

So that’s it for now, more to come. I fished last week with Steve Huff for the 4# snook record, without success but with loads of fun and focus.

 

Nathaniel