Mike C

Legendary Wonderset Diver automatic diver release! My fellow fishermen on LOU. I field tested the wonderset divers the past two summers on my boat out of Oswego. I provided allot of feedback to my old friend John Emory who has been an inventor since he was a young man, ( he is approaching 80 ) Here is what I found take it for what it is worth. 1- Substantially less break-offs on diver hits unlike regular divers. Less torque ( less than half than regular diver releases ) Much easier on the rods and reels ( drags etc ! ) I can't remember loosing any gear with wonderset conversions over two summers. 2- Different application than regular divers, takes some getting used to. 3. Works great at depth's to over 100 feet down, 3 to 1 ratio on the wire seems to be in the ballpark. 4. Several Charter Boats on the eastern end of the lake are running them successfully. 5. Down and outs won't trip unless hit by a fish 6. When they hit bottom, They won't hang up unlike other divers. 7. I had several re-hits on fish without retrieving lures ( flashers ) after not initially being hooked up. I could'nt believe it when it happened, it it happened several times. 8. No problem changing lures ( flashers etc! ) but you can't yank on the retrieve as the spring will compress. Lift the rod out of your holder, hold the rod straight up and crank the handle smartly and she comes up with little effort. Hardest thing to get used to is that it automaticlly resets itself everytime 9. You need to make gentle turns on your boat or the wonderset diver will climb up the twenty or thirty feet which is not a bad thing sometimes. 10. Different application than regular divers, takes some getting used to but will increase your batting average, and well worth the small price to convert a couple divers over to automatic. FOI - John Emory of Legendary Products was issued US patent # 7,637,051 for his Smartfish Flasher, I believe the only one on market with a US patent. The patent was issued 29-Decmber 2009, congratulations to a great friend of The Great Lakes Fishery. Take care Mike C

Cannon unit sold today ( 10-28- 09 ) Thanks MikeC

I have a brand new Cannon speed and temperature unit for sale. The unit is complete, brand new still in the box. I have another one on my charterboat, and decided to sell this one. Asking $300.00 . Captain Mike Conroy Proteus Sportfishing Oswego, NY. 315-727-5554 email [email protected]

A fish story from Mike C out of Oswego from yesterday 13-July-2009. I was fishing west of Oswego in 150-180 feet of water with a few other charter boats. I only had one customer on the boat along with my mate. I received a call from Hat Trick and he said he hit a nice king 121feet down on a green echip and green fly. We immediately set my#1 rigger at the same number, and it fired right away with a green dot glow smart fish set at 11:30. At the same time my port diver rod came to life with 360 feet of wire set at #1 with a green echip and a A-Tom-Mik hypnotist fly 25" behind the flasher. My mate said the counter ran out to over 400 feet, and he gained line to about 350 feet and he said he felt a head shake and the fish was gone. He continued to reel in the wonder set, and it reset when he lifted the rod straight up. The counter now read 300 feet and another salmon smashed the rig, and we were hooked up on the same wonder set as it had reset as advertized. After about fifthteen minutes we boxed the diver fish. Removing the hook, we found that the first salmon bite off the treble and the red stinger hook that Tom Allen has above the treble firmly caught the second salmon a nice 22lb fish. The wonder set did it's job, and Hat Trick told me that has happened twice to him already. The second Captain on Hat Trick was a team member aboard TK who won the Oswego Pro AM. TK said that he probably would not have won the tournament if it was not for The Legendary wonder set. Myself and these two other boats have had great success with the wonder set diver, and I am just sharing my good fortune with my fellow anglers. Good fishing Mike C Oswego

TBromund, Last post for me today as I am heading out for work. Great that we all have interest in the same thing, catching fish and enjoying the Great Lakes. I have been fishing the Lake since the early 80's, and I have seen allot of products come and go . I have some Big Jon products on my boat, but I run Scotty downriggers. John Emory sold Big Jon in the late 90's and started Legendary with his elberta clipper stacker, smartfish flasher and several other items that can be found on the Legendary website. I passed the information on about the Wonder Set on the LOU website as I have been field testing along with some other people for over three months. Over five years work has gone into perfecting the Wonder Set, and over three summers field testing by John. I know for a fact, that he tested over 54 differant springs and dozens of trip arms. John found that the plastic arm he came up with works best for strength and duribility. Everything else is stainless steel including the custom made spring. I am not on the Legendary payroll, I just fish. I do know a better mousetrap when I see one. Before you pass judgement, give one a try, or just enjoy the fishery with what you already have on your boat. Good safe fishing to both of you Mike C

Gill T, The man that invented the Wonder set is the same same man that invented Big Jon Downriggers, Otter Boat side planers and over twenty other inventions. The last time I saw a diver, I believe it was constructed out of plastic?. Why don't you get one in your hands before you pass judgement. Big Jon has the street cred with the Great Lakes fishing community, his name is golden to me and thousands of other fishermen. Good fishing Mike C

My friends on the LOU site! John Emory, the inventor and owner of Legendary Products of Traverse City, Michigan has began shipping one of his best inventions ever. The Legendary Wonder set has been shipped to Fat Nancy's, and two pictures of The Wonder set can be seen on there website http://www.FatNancystackle.com. This device which I explained on some earlier posts on tackle and techniques will make your divers fully automatic. John will be shipping several more the end of next week to several more stores and on-line tackle outfits. The package will have most everything that is needed for the conversions, and the other items needed are on hand already by almost everyone. John is excited about his new invention. and knows everyone will enjoy them when they follow the instructions and run them properly. Stay tuned Mike C

Ray, The Legendary Wonderset has been under production and testing for over five years, and has been a concept for close to ten years. Nobody in Michigan has seen it, and what you saw in GLA must have been something else. Myself and only two other people have prototypes to run, and I know for a fact John has no let them out of his hands until the last month. John has done heavy field testing on Lake Michigan himself over the last three summers. The man who built the mold is doing the first run early this week. Stay tuned. Mike C Oswego

Ray, I just read your post about problems with dipsy ( divers ) after spending all day today tied up in my slip in Oswego due to high winds on the lake. I have had the good fortune to have three divers outfitted with John Emory's ( Big Jon ) new " Wonder Set " kit that will make the Jenson and Walker diver fully automatic. This device will eliminate several of the problems that we all have encountered with our divers Here are some of the things that the new "Wonder-Set will do. 1. Auto-sets and resets diver without taking out of the water 2 No more need to adjust release 3 resets self on false releases 4 less torque on hook-ups ( less pressure, better batting average on strikes ) 5. Fits latest circular divers 6 sets and resets when fish hooks up or diver hits bottom 7 more hook-ups 8 Makes fishing more fun ( no yanking on divers to change lures ) 9 Five minute installation and your diver is fully automatic 10 First major innovation to divers in twenty five years. I believe that I have made a few people on the site curious ? The Wonderset should hit the stores on the eastern end of Lake Ontario ( Fat Nancy's , All Seasons, A-Tom-Mik website as well as St. Peter's Outfitters in Oswego , and Gander Mountain in Cicero before the 4th of July. I am not including a picture of Wonderset yet, as the ones I have are prototypes, but I can assure you this, John is picking up the final parts this week to make this thing happen. Stay tuned Mike C Oswego

Raider 44, I have not been on the site for over a week, and I just read your post tonight. I have been running smartfish for over three years, and they are a great addition to any Great Lakes Boat. Check out the demonstration video's at http://www.legendaryproduct.com One side of the smartfish has a number 12, and the leading edge of the larger rudder has a small plastic bump that is the pointer. Run at 4:00 & 8:00 o'clock for active fish, and 11:30 for inactive fish in the late morning. Run the smartfish at 2:30 and it will run just like a Spin Doctor. It is very versatile, as you can change speeds and direction by the turn of the dial. The inventor is the Godfather of Great Lakes Fishing, John Emory. He has to many inventions to count, and I would guess you have some of his inventions on your boat. Try them, you will like them. Good luck Mike C

Stan, Nice fish Stan, glad to see some of the East Coast methods ( wire, riggers, smartfish, teasers ) are working out west. Beautiful scenery, I enjoy your posts. Keep up the good work. Good fishing Mike C

Matt, I have been running smartfish for this the fourth season, and I always line my fly up on the same side as the setting side. On the 4:00 setting I will secure the fly on the right hole. On the 8:00 setting I will place it on the left hole. The slowest position to run a smartfish is 11:30 ( Lake trout and inactive kings ) Fastest settings are both 4:00 and 8:00 o'clock for active kings and steelhead. No more than fifteen feet off the rigger ball, and never run smartfish next to each other on downriggers. One off the corner riggers is fine, and the best application by far are the divers. I added a little extra to answer your post Matt, as I think some people do not take the time to learn how to run a very deadly weapon. Good luck Mike C

on the lamb, I spoke to John Emory today, the inventor of the Smartfish, and he is hopfully making some more video's this weekend of some settings that he wants to add to his video gallery. Go on his website http://www.legendaryproduct.com, and he has three video's posted. The new ones will be of settings he has not posted yet. I believe he will make one at the 2:30 setting, and this looks like the Spin Doctor at that setting underwater. The 8:00 and 4:00 are very good for active Salmon off the divers and copper. Good luck Mike C

Jim from Owasco Lake RE: where to purchase Black Releases? Jim, call Rob the fishing manager at Gander Mountain, Cicero at 315-698-1100 ext 4 and he should be able to hook you up. I know you have a Bass Pro at the Finger Lakes Mall, but they are very weak on Lake Ontario and the Finger Lakes. The store managers and fishing department managers at the Gander Mountain stores have allot more local say than Bass Pro. Everything at Bass Pro has to be approved by somebody in the midwest before you have a chance to see it locally. Good luck Mike C

Sharkbait, Enjoyed reading the posts and opinion's about what type of release is the best on the market now. I have had a little experience fishing several of the Great Lakes as well as about five different Finger Lakes in New York as both a recreational fishermen as well as a Charter Boat Captain with almost 25,000 hours on my boat. I started in 1981. My number one release is the black. The black is a very versitile release for both large and small fish, and the tension setting screw and ease of setting is a no brainer. The price is competitive and the reiibility is next to none. Pinchpad releases have cost me to many fish and allot of gear, so I am sticking with the black releases. My best application for stacker releases is the elberta clipper from legendary products. which is one of John Emory's inventions. They can be found online at http://www.legendary product.com , or at some Gander Mountain stores. Good fishing Mike C

Rick, Thanks for posting the video's of the smartfish settings for everybody to see. John Emory has the street cred with me with all he has invented and innovated over the years for the Great Lakes community. He is seventy-six years old, and still out there helping people catch fish. I understand that he has a new diver invention that is very interesting, can't wait to see the finished product. I hope some of the guys will follow your lead and give his stuff a chance. I know they won't be disappointed. I had great luck running my smartfish between 2:00- 4:00 o'clock settings.The smartfish really works great on a diver application. I look for them to slam some leader boards this year on the tournaments. There Pro Staff looks good to be in the mix with the big boys. Mike C

Draggin Ballz, I emailed some information to Yankee Troller late last night, regarding smartfish settings, applications etc! Rick told me that he would post the information as soon as he could get time to pass it on. I will keep looking to see if it is up on the LOU webpage in the next day . A quick refference for you until Rick posts can be found on the the Legendary website. www.legendaryproduct.com Mike C

I have a slip, and store in Oswego, because my business is there, but have done business at Mike's Marina over the years. Mike and his wife Beth are great people, run a super full service Marina. Mike and Beth are active in every good project on the Eastern end of the Lake including building the net pens. Good choice and safe Marina, I highly recommend Mike's Marina. Mike C Oswego