CMD

Ya I have 2 hds 7s gen 2 and am very familiar with them. The motorguide Xi5 is still so new it is hard find any trouble shooting on it. It has a built in lowrance transducer so there isn't supposed to be any interference but when i call motorguide they tell me its a lowrance issue and vice versa when i call lowrance. Just gotta sit around and wait until someone figures it out. Until then i'll just run it off my back sonar.

will do. I know that place well. Thanks!

Here's what works for me:

 

Clear, sunny days, gin clear water:  Natural patterns.  Matt finished live targets work really well, or whatever natural patterns you got.

 

Sunny days/variable, or slightly coloured/stained water: chrome finishes, subltle or natural patterns

 

Dark/cloudy/overcast, any clear to stained water: yellow, chartreuse, white, or any combination of.

 

Mucky water: pink! (experts recommend black and blue, but I say pink is better...)

 

When in doubt, fish something with blue!  It seems to be my best fail safe.

 

I usually use surface temps as a guage to where to how far off shore to look, but yes, they will seek deeper, cooler hiding places in the summer and that is when you can bust out your diving lips.

 

Just my two bits.

This^

Blue is the most visible color to fish

ok so now its supposed to go down to freezing tonight and only warm up to a high of 8. With this weather will the pike still be in shallow? Or will the shallow bays now be the cooler areas because the air will be colder than the water? Please advise thanks.

Wow thanks for all the responses I will post pics from the long weekend.