http://www.LouisianaSportsman.com April 2015 | Louisiana Sportsman 199
Schultz built prototype after prototype, and had one ready for
the 2013 ICAST. The Drum Roller hit the streets in January 2014.
Floridians Geoffrey Page and Rick Murphy found out about
it and stocked up on the Drum Rollers, the artificial lure
designer said.
They won money with them on the 2014 IFA Redfish circuit,
and then cashed in big time Oct. 25 when they captured the IFA
Redfish Championship in Houma.
Page and Murphy’s two-day, four-fish limit weighed 35.29
pounds, good enough for a new Ranger 220 Bahia/Yamaha
150 package valued at $41,000, plus $3,990 in Anglers
Advantage cash.
They used the Hildebrandt Drum Roller to pick off redfish
piled up along the shoreline of a brackish bayou in the Venice
area, 100-plus miles from their launching point. There was an
abundance of forage fish present, they said.
“There were five different species of bait( fish), literally, on one
shoreline,” Murphy said. “We knew there was so much protein
there that if we could catch a (slot) fish, he was going to be
really big.”
Schultz believes the spinnerbait’s unique tin makeup is the
reason it’s so effective.
Pure tin, he pointed out, weighs approximately two-thirds as
much as lead of the same volume, which makes a big difference
when fishing in super-shallow water where redfish feed.
“By combining its unique head design with the right-colored
soft-plastic trailer and Premium Hildebrandt Blades, the Drum
Roller’s flash and profile will match just about anything a red-fish feeds on,” he said.
In other words, it’s relatively easy to keep it off the bottom,
even with the same profile of a lead spinnerbait.
“It stays up in the water column better,” he said.
Tin also is extremely durable.
“Another advantage is tin is much, much harder (than lead),”
Schultz said. “You can beat tin against jetties, riprap, etc., and
it’ll keep its shape. They don’t chip or dent.”
Features of the lure include a lifelike baitfish profile, with 3-D
eyes and accentuated gills. A Z-Man soft-plastic trailer made
with Elaztech is the crowning touch to the 3/8-ounce Drum
Roller, he said.
And Hildebrandt’s Colorado blade in gold, black, nickel, cop-
per or silver can’t be beat anywhere, he said. Copper, by the
way, is a huge favorite.
Another positive for the tin spinnerbait is that it is very cast-
able because, even though it’s lighter than lead, the soft plastic
adds a little bulk.
“You can throw it a long way. Nothing compares,” Schultz said.
“You can retrieve it and keep it off the reefs, etc. Even at a high-
speed retrieve, it keeps vertical.”
The Drum Roller also has premium components, such as
Sampo ball-bearing swivel, .450-gauge stainless steel wire, an
extra-strong harness in the safety pin design and ultra-sharp
quality wide gap hook, he said.
Everything on it is rust resistant, too.
“I’ve caught BIG red drum on it and never had a failure,”
Schultz said. ■