Need help in southern Louisiana, can’t catch a bass to save my life!

Basically the title folks, I need help. I’m not exactly frustrated but what I’m feeling is a mixture of confusion and decision paralysis. I started fishing this year around the end of May and while I’ve been able to catch plenty of catfish and panfish, I’ve only ever caught one single bass in the past two and a half months. I wanna emphasize that I am not discouraged by this, rather what has happened is that I have basically been inhaling every bit off bass fishing info that YouTube and BassUniversity have to offer and where I am now is that I know a decent bit about how to theoretically catch a bass but I’m really struggling to narrow down all the different rigs/baits/lures/techniques to what suits my actual skill level and the areas I have available to fish.

I live in southern Louisiana and mostly I’m fishing bayous and marshes from a kayak. Another thing to note is that it has been HOT down here folks and the water temperature is only just starting to cool off a tiny tiny bit so I know that that will slow the fishing down but I’m definitely still seeing people catching bass although it may not be as much. So one of my first questions would be (especially to anyone familiar with the area) what kinds of spots should I be looking for to fish? Based on what I’m getting from YouTube, I’m looking for cover, vegetation and structure as well as going a bit deeper since it is hot, but what’s confusing about this area is that literally every five feet of marsh is covered in laydowns, lily pads, docks, grass etc. and I still can’t catch a fish. So does proximity to the main lake maybe play a role in where I should fish? And where EXACTLY should I be trying to put my lure when casting at a piece of structure or vegetation? How far from my target should I be trying to park my kayak so as not to spook the fish?

Then when it comes to rigs, my first thought was to stick with success and since I caught my first bass on a drop shot with a zoom “super salt plus finesse” worm, that’s what I fished for the next few days and I still got skunked repeatedly. I’ve collected a bunch of random tackle and tried some different things but I really don’t have any real confidence in any one technique or lure at all. And with getting zero feedback from the fish, I can’t tell if it’s the lure, the color, the time of day, or if my technique is just terrible or what. I’m just stumped!

I mostly fish early early mornings (like usually from 5-830am) because I can get that in before work most days, and don’t get me wrong here, even with the lack of success-I looooove fishing. I love the getting up early, seeing the sunrise on the water, getting a little exercise and enjoying the peace and calm of being out in nature. But with the sheer volume of information on the internet, I would just be hugely appreciative if someone could help me narrow down my options to a handful of things I could try to stick with for a while and get good at. And I would really love it if y’all could get as specific as you can with the advice: what lure, what rig, what’s time of day, what to throw it at, how to work it, etc. Regardless, I know that a bad day fishing is still better than a good day at work so if I don’t catch another bass all year I’m still a happy camper but catching that one bass was SUCH a thrilling experience I was just hoping you kind folks could help me try to recreate that a few more times.

Tight lines y’all!