Summertime can be the best time to fish the Ozarks. I would say June is the best month. Top waters early and late around spawning pockets can be great on the right day. Clouds and rain can really help that bite. Getting out on the ledges and bluffs, long points can be great. Swim baits, crank baits, jigs, worms, spoons, they all can be great. Deep brush piles can be awesome with some Texas rigged worms or brush hogs or even a football jig.
I like 15-20 pound fluorocarbon line. A high speed reel is also good to crank the bass out, Lew’s lite speed spool is perfect. The knot is also equally important as the line and the reel. The double uni is the best knot, it’s just a uni knot doubled. The only downside of that knot is it takes a while to tie. The Jimmy Houston knot is the second best knot and not as difficult to tie. I tie the uni knot most the time unless there is a lot of money on the line then it gets doubled. A good med/heavy or even heavy rod is just as important. I like Lew’s custom pro speed sticks rods.
Back to fishing….another thing awesome is skipping or pitching shallow boat docks. The same tackle principles apply as the brush pile fishing. Everyone’s different on how long it takes to master the skipping and pitching but if taught correctly it’s not that hard, it takes time like everything else. The only thing I might change out is line size if I’m pitching a finesse jig, I like the 15 pound fluro for that. The other important thing folks pay attention to is current running through the dam in the summer. The more current the better the fish bite usually but you still have to find the fish! That’s the most important thing is finding the fish. Good luck!
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