FLORIDA — ACTIVE YEARS MID-1980s – c. 2010

Sadu Frehm built Hawaiian-style trolling lures from Florida, carrying the islands' plunger tradition over to the Atlantic side of the sport. He began making lures in 1985, after spending time working alongside Bart Miller.

The shape that defined his work traces back to a mystery lure. As Sadu tells it, sometime in the 1970s the captain for actor Lee Marvin handed him a lure to try; he hooked and fought a thousand-pound marlin on it for half an hour before breaking off — and then never saw another lure quite like it. The shape stuck in his memory until 1985, when he finally recreated it, and Sadu Lures was born.

His plungers are best known for their underwater action and bubble trail, and for a genuinely distinctive novelty: small lights set inside the head that blinked when the lure got wet. Vintage Sadus — the Blinker Plunger and the Calcutta among them — are sought-after collector pieces, and for years Sadu remained close to the collector community, helping verify his own lures. He sadly passed away recently, leaving behind a body of work that carried the Hawaiian plunger tradition to the Atlantic.

As a museum and archive, we're honored to preserve the work and legacy of Sadu Frehm, who carried the Hawaiian plunger tradition to Florida.

Notable shapes: Blinker Plunger (14"/16"), Calcutta plunger, slants

Identification tips:

• The standout tell is the internal "blinker" lights designed to flash when wet
• Plunger shapes known for a strong underwater bubble-trail swim

Below, you’ll find our ever-growing digital archive showcasing every lure that has come through our shop. This collection is constantly evolving as new lures arrive, making it a living record of rare, limited-production lures. We will continue updating this database regularly, building what we aim to be the largest digital archive of offshore trolling lures in the world.

If you have any further information or any lures you believe deserve to be showcased, please reach out to us at ren@luremonger.com