Chad Richardson of Milford, Kansas, is a guide with a degree in fisheries biol­ogy. He says no time is tougher than mid to late summer, when shad fill his home waters.

“We don’t have the hard winters necessary to cause a big shad kill every year,” he says. “As a result, we chronically face over­abundant baitfish numbers, and that can make late-summer fishing even tougher.” He says frequent, methodical experimentation with lure patterns and style is crucial to success.

“You have to experiment with color. As a rule of thumb, change lures about three times more often than during other times of year.”

Match the forage as best you can, but don’t be shy about trying colors that will stand out in the crowd. “Purple-black and purple-iridescent patterns can be especially hot,” he says.

When dealing with forage-stuffed walleyes, Persistence is the rule. “You have to fight the feeling that you could try anything and still not get a strike,” he says. “Stay on those fish, and just keep changing lures and speeds. Sometimes you’ll fish the same school for three hours, then the next time you change baits, you hook one right away.”

He also keeps track of fish behavior, noting the time of feeding activity. “I’ve noticed walleyes feed in brief, but intense, frenzied periods that occur about the same time from day to day at least for a little while,” he says"

The timing of feeding periods is often surprising. “At noon, during the heat of the day, we’ll sometimes get an algae bloom. That’ll trigger shad activity around the algae, and that often gets the walleyes going,” he says.