Fly,
The only, indirect, contact I've had with a mako was a buddy, spearing on scuba. He had two or three nice grouper, 15-20 pounds , on a stringer and the mako came in and took one. He did not see the shark until his stringer went crazy. The mako came back around to get another, going straight for the fish and ingoring the diver. My friend shoot him through the top of the head at very close range. Should have been a kill shot, but did not seem to faze the shark. He did leave at high speed. This was in winter off, Pacific reef near Miami, in about 90 feet of water, on the edge of the Gulf Stream.
Mottyb,
Welcome to DB, don't worry about correctness, as long as you are polite. Lots of us harbor somethig of the dark side.
Your story sounds like the Florida Panhandle. The strength and power of a big sting ray are pretty amazing. It may be politically incorrect, but, considering that they eat real good, fight harder that any grouper and are very abundant in some places, I don't see much harm (in those areas). My main objection comes from fools who shoot a big one and loose their gun and the fish because they have no idea how powerful sting rays are.
Other kinds of rays are so beautiful, and not very common in my area, that shooting them seems like a poor thing to do.
Connor