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Post 11 Mar 2021, 12:23 • #1 
Guide
Joined: 06/30/20
Posts: 251
Hi all. I have been emailing back and forth with someone who bought the remaining Ryall stock (parts and reels) after the namesake passed away. In the course of emailing he shared a ton of history with me that I thought the folks on this board might appreciate. I was given approval to share. First the J Ryall Obit:

IN MEMORIUM - JIM RYALL
RYALL, James Joseph was born to Alan and Avis Ryall on April 2nd, 1934 in San Mateo, California, and died April 4, 2015 at age 81. Jim grew up during the Great Depression and Second World War, and learned to work hard and survive in tough times. After graduation from San Mateo High School, he and Barbara Tadson married to begin a life together that would span nearly 62 years. In 1954-56 he served in the US Army in Germany, where he was a sharpshooter. Jim was also trained in espionage, corresponding through coded letters. Upon his return to the US he held a number of jobs before settling into what would become a lifelong career making things from metal as a machinist. He started the trade at Litton Industries and eventually ran his own shop, J Ryall Machine Works. Jim was a doer, fearless to try almost anything, and had many interests. Among them were hunting and fishing, cats, motocross, boating, go cart racing, singing and songwriting, poetry, story telling, woodworking, new gadgets, Native American culture, collecting, backpacking, wheeling and dealing, photography, hot cars and motorcycles, vegetable gardening, model making, and inventing. He was always thinking about better ways to accomplish something and would create tools and inventions toward that end. Among them: perpetual motion machine (unfortunately unsuccessful), portable barbeque grill, tick removal kit, home meat smoker, and gas-powered pogo stick. His best known invention is the patented J Ryall fly reel, which is highly regarded by avid fly fishermen the world over. A jewel-encrusted version of the reel now resides in the Smithsonian collection.

Info on Teton vs Ryall:

Jim Ryall was an interesting person (passed away April 2015). He was a self educated expert machinist who manufactured the highest quality metal parts/boxes,etc for military fighter jets, the Apollo space program, etc from his machine shop in the San Carlos area from about 1960 until he retired in 1998.
His hobby/ outdoor sport of choice is fly fishing, and since he already had the machine shop in place, he decided to develop a new product line when the military/ NASA demand was shrinking in late 1980’s. He would make precision machined fly fishing reels from blocks of T6061 aircraft quality aluminum, but with dramatic improvements in the drag systems of previous reels which used a click & pawl mechanism used by Orvis and others.
His concepts used center line axis drag mechanisms (in the spindle and bushing parts of the reel, closer to the axis of rotation). He developed two different kinds, both of which set the standard for how almost all fly fishing reels are still made today. Also, his knowledge of military specs for quality machining requirements with tight tolerances, as well as type 3 hard anodized coatings gave him a decided advantage in making reels.
His first designs used a mechanism where a drag knob on the cage turned and slowly pulled the spool and center post into a plate under the bushing which rotated around the center spindle, thereby increasing the friction when line goes out which would tire out a fish making a run and pulling line out of the spool. He hired another machinist Wes (last name TBD) to help make these reels, but from day one they had an adversarial relationship, constantly debating the evolution of these reels, and so Jim fired Wes. Wes in turn stole this drag mechanism design and started his own company called Teton fly fishing reels. There were some lawsuits which only benefited some lawyers, but when the Teton lawyer quit the case, the lawsuits stopped and Jim figured he had won the battle. Today, these reels with this drag mechanism are seen both in Ryall Jr and in Teton #2,4,6, as well as many others. Okay for small reels, but when they get bigger (4 inches) the spool tends to wobble, a very undesirable characteristic.

There is also a ton more info here: http://troutmemories.webmate.me/Site/J. ... STORY.html


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Post 11 Mar 2021, 16:56 • #2 
Glass Fanatic
Joined: 06/09/05
Posts: 2524
Location: US-CO
Thanks for the history, I have several Tetons the 3,4,5 and 8, each with a spare spool. I knew that Teton had splintered off Ryall and that there was some bad blood there but did not know the story. They are terrific reels and the cage construction makes them fairly bulletproof when hiking and timber-bashing which I do a fair amount of. I don’t know how the drag works but, it too, is bulletproof.


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Post 19 Mar 2021, 16:34 • #3 
Guide
Joined: 01/19/11
Posts: 223
Location: Ontario, Canada
Thanks for the history. At one point I had both a Teton & a Tioga fly reel, but I also saw Ryall reels being reviewed & advertised in mags. Teton & Ryall looked similar (the same u-shaped counterweight on the spools). I liked the way the drag was configured on these reels. Tough reliable reels.


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Post 21 Mar 2021, 09:06 • #4 
Glass Fanatic
Joined: 02/19/08
Posts: 1218
Location: Branson, Missouri
Excellent work - many many thank you's for compiling this information.
I like these reels.
Brian


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Post 24 Mar 2021, 20:12 • #5 
Master Guide
Joined: 01/08/08
Posts: 695
Location: US-MA
Thanks for sharing this, MrJesse34

RIP Jim Ryall


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Post 28 Mar 2021, 09:18 • #6 
Master Guide
Joined: 12/11/20
Posts: 378
Location: Dallas, TX
I bought a personal J.Ryall #2 from Stu and have enjoyed getting to know him and fishing this gem of a reel.
Stu told me this is one the last reels made my Jim himself. Glad I have it. I’ve never fished a Teton. Has anyone done a side by side comparison?


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Post 21 Dec 2021, 10:50 • #7 
Sport
Joined: 11/24/21
Posts: 70
Posted this on a thread on another forum...it appears the "Wes" who started Teton was Wes Ament:

http://www.calaverasenterprise.com/news ... 51148.html


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Post 21 Dec 2021, 13:05 • #8 
Guide
Joined: 08/11/21
Posts: 208
Location: Tucson, AZ
J Ryall reels were on the market 20-30 years ago..my shop did not carry full-frame machined reels back then, but they were nice. Did not know much about the history at the time, so thanks for that. Met the folks who made them at the Fly Tackle dealer show in Denver and one of my reps from Northern Cal was their agent and they were pretty and functioned well. Fly reels on the upswing were were Ross, Galvan, Abel, Lamson, etc., so the competition was fierce, and I ran a small shop and could not carry them all

I am over my aversion for full-frame reels...even RH retrieve are OK by me these days. having jumped off the "high-tech" ship for some time now.


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Post 22 Dec 2021, 13:42 • #9 
Glass Fanatic
Joined: 02/19/08
Posts: 1218
Location: Branson, Missouri
Glad to see this thread pop up here... since I do have a Teton handy.. here is this color in size 6 :





Now the J Ryall...


Last edited by Brian Shaffer on 22 Dec 2021, 14:10, edited 1 time in total.

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Post 22 Dec 2021, 14:01 • #10 
Guide
Joined: 06/30/20
Posts: 251
Brian I for one would love to see some comparison pics!!


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Post 24 Dec 2021, 08:57 • #11 
Master Guide
Joined: 12/11/20
Posts: 378
Location: Dallas, TX
Thanks for the note, Brian. Love this evolving thread. It’s interesting that we all seem to have either a Ryall or a Teton thing, but nobody has both?

Here are a few more photos of my J.Ryall #2 Premium. These were sent to me by Stu Heller before I bought the reel:


The #2 is indeed beautiful and bombproof. I love the solid weight of it. I like fishing this reel so much that when I bought my first Chris Barclay rod I worked with Chris to design a custom rod to fish with it. Chris used a new old stock rosewood seat and brass rings to match the reel accents. (I still have a draft post working about that cool rod I need to finish.)



I thought I had more close ups of the reel but these are what I could find in a quick search of my overloaded iPhone library. I’ll post more when I can.

Merry Christmas, guys.


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Post 26 Dec 2021, 17:47 • #12 
Sport
Joined: 10/06/07
Posts: 39
Location: US-DE
Love my Ryall reels.Ive been fishing these in fresh & saltwater daily for 25+ years with hardly a hiccup.Had a handle come loose once and thats it.These things are going for stupid money on the net.Im not selling mine.


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Post 28 Jan 2022, 13:33 • #13 
New Member
Joined: 05/04/19
Posts: 7
Location: US-MI
I was fortunate enough to find an excellent confition J Ryall reel on ebay a few years ago. I use it on my ProCrest rod. They are great reels!


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