Dude, you are right on the backdoor of some of the nation's greatest smallmouth fishing. Fishing in the summer is tough and without fronts rolling through or going at night the bite is tough. Take your kayak out and get on the Susquehanna!
The only problem would be your line choice for the river- braid doesn't fare so well in the river. You could still use braid but go to a 20 foot or more fluoro leader for abrasion resistance on the rocks.
Your set ups are fine. I don't like cranking with a spinning setup but that's more personal preference - it's very doable for most people. Your inability to catch fish on a bed rig probably has to do with your confidence, not casting to the right spots and I would guess fishing too fast. Fishing too fast is most of our problems when finesse fishing!