Abel  ·  Ross Off the Grid Studios

A different way to tell the story

The life of a reel.

Speed, power and the machine in the middle.

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Everyone talks about the cast, the take and the fish.Almost no one talks about the machine in the middle.

Two fish. Two tests.

Speed and power.

Speed Tuna. 45 mph Yellowfin and bluefin have been recorded in bursts of about 45 miles an hour. Line leaves the spool faster than you can react.
Power Marlin. 200 lb A good fly-caught marlin is around 200 pounds, and fast too. On 16 to 20 pound tippet the drag has to stay smooth through every run, for as long as the fish fights.

The angler gets the credit. The reel does the work.

The engineering

Forces at hand. Literally.

A big fish at full speed puts everything on one machine small enough to hold in one hand.

  1. HeatFriction, turned up.Every foot of line that leaves the spool under load becomes heat, and the drag has to stay smooth while it does.
  2. TorqueTwisting force.Hard runs load the frame, the spool and the shaft that holds it. Nothing is allowed to flex.
  3. PressureSudden and sustained.A hard strike and a long fight, back to back. The parts take both.
  4. SaltAnd all of it wet.Salt, sand and grit, all day, and it still has to turn freely.

Inside out

So start at the center.

Keep scrolling. Watch it open.

  1. At the heartThe drag.Where a fish's run is held back. Ross builds its drags in-house from carbon fiber, stainless steel and stacked composites. Abel's SDS is a multi-disc drag, completely sealed.
  2. Between worldsThe seals.Keeping salt, sand and grit out. Abel's SDS drag is sealed from the elements. Ross drags are sealed or maintenance-free, depending on the model.
  3. The structureThe frame.Machined from raw bar-stock aluminum in Montrose, Colorado. Ross uses 6061-T6, cut on CNC machines.

The other half

Tech and human.

Speed and power are the engineering. The finish is the art, and the hands behind it.

Abel · Start to finish One shop. Designed, machined, anodized and assembled in Montrose, Colorado, with every step controlled in-house. The story is what each step looks like up close.
Ross · The finish In-house color. Hard-anodized in-house, with custom engraving and limited-edition colors, assembled by hand. One idea to explore: put the river you love on your reel.

Made in Colorado, finished in-house, and built to stop a marlin.

The plan

Three shoots. One story.

  1. ColoradoThe making.Where the reels are made. Machining, anodizing, assembly and the engineers behind them.
  2. CaliforniaThe art.Painting and hand customization, and the people who make a reel look like nobody else's.
  3. Magdalena Bay, MexicoThe proving ground.Take people from the Ross and Abel teams and fish it for marlin and tuna. The fastest and strongest fish in one place, so the whole story shoots in three trips.
  • A hero film that changes how people see a reel
  • Short chapters for every channel
  • Animated cutaways that make speed and force visible
  • Machine-shop and paint-shop close-ups, up close and slow
Abel  ·  Ross Off the Grid Studios

Let's talk about reels differently.

Thirty minutes. Bring a reel. We'll bring the story.

RA Beattie
Founder and creative director, Off the Grid Studios

Emailbeattie@offthegridstudios.com
Phone(970) 948-0838
Email RA