MediumMouthBass

For rods. Anything ultra light, and light will work great for trout and panfish.
Medium light can be used for panfish, trout, and bass.
But should really be only used with ned rigs, and very light baits for bass.
Medium rods are great for bigger trout lures, but will be mainly for bass fishing.
Medium rods excel at smaller and lighter bass baits, like weightless soft plastics, jerkbaits, and crankbaits, Ned rigs, tube jigs, paddle tail swimbaits on a jig.
Medium heavy rods are more for things like Texas rigs, jigs (football, flipping, pitching, skipping, swimming), buzzbaits/spinnerbaits, bigger jerkbaits and deeper diving crankbaits, among others.
And when buying a rod for catfishing dont go by its power, but its ratings.
For example i have a medium heavy rod thats ratings go to 1oz at the highest, but i have a swimbait/catfish rod thats only a medium, well its ratings for lures go up to 6oz.
For reels. 
500-1000 sized are for trout and panfish.
But some guys have used 1000 for very light finesse fishing for bass.
2000-2500 (even a 3000) are the best. Holds the most line, while still not being very heavy.
4000-4500 these are really only for musky, catfish, salmon and steelhead.
 
Thats up to you. New rods and reels wont do a single thing to catch more bass, they will just make the experience on the water nicer. Its a tradeoff half the people want, and the other half not.
 
@Glenn makes a ton of helpful posts on here that would be beneficial. Then theres youtube.
Learn as much as possible before hitting the water.

Caffeine shad has coffee scent, dont know if it works for the bass but it works for me.
 
And hold both in your hand, youll feel instantly why the caffeine shad skips better.
 
I personally dont like the Zoom flukes, they are too light for me. Which is why i like the caffeine shads, they fall faster, and dont rise to the top every jerk.
 
And for recommendations, Yamamoto d shad, Big Bite Baits has a good one, Academys house brand fluke, i like the Berkley Powerbait flukes as a replacement to Zoom (similar shape and size but you can use them in the water), Grandebass Airtail shad.
Then youve got the senko style baits with a fluke like tail.
 
You can also add rattles in some, and nail weights if you need to get down deeper.
Oh and keep the ones that get ripped, cut them down and use whats left for trailers for chatterbaits, jigs, and spinnerbaits.

Using a spinner might be the cause, while they work very well for panfish, trout, and pickerel. Bass fishing with spoons and spinners is very hit or miss. And using a treble hooked spinner will catch alot of leaves and wood. Try a spinnerbait, bigger profile and flashing blades to draw in the bass, even in dirty water. And does great in leaves, grass, and wood since its a single hook, and they are designed to come through some unpleasant places in the water.

Ill leave my plano boxes under my kayak seat, or in a bag if im on the boat.
But theres really no need unless fishing 100 degree days all the time. From summer through winter even ill leave bags of soft plastics and Planos full of lures in the car. That stuff gets hotter than any day in the sun could get it, and then frozen like its in a freezer in the colder months. No soft plastics melted and no hardbaits deformed.
Even the 6th sense stuff i left in the car during the summer is still good. And that itself is just wild.
 
Theres more of a concern for line being damaged while in the heat/sun than lures.
And the kayak warping slightly. But they are designed to handle that.
 

Neko Leech on a ned rig, bring various weights.
Wacky worm.
Tube jig.
Strike King Bitsy Bug/Flip finesse jig.
2-3" paddle tail swimbait on a ball head jig.
1.0, 1.5 Strike King square bills.
Jerkbaits too.
These will work year round in any conditions, some like natural colors but for smallies i like bright and unnatural (pinks, whites, chartreuse).
And for the where, everywhere. Seriously these smallies could be anywhere.... If its muddy with high water conditions fish very close to the bank, like 3-8' in front of you. If not then cast far and work your way back.

I started with right handed casting reels but now use left handed ones, i was really good with RH years ago but now i can barely use it, feels too odd after using LH ones so much. Now im just talking about what hand im reeling with, but if you are actually able to cast with your non dominant hand thats really cool. Especially with accuracy.
Although you should try to regain being able to cast with your dominant hand too, that way you can fish 2 rods at once, one in each hand.

I cant belive no one yet has recommended a Strike King Bitsty Bug or Bitsty Flip finesse jig, these work amazing in shallow ponds (and rivers). Alot of the suggestions above are great and will get bass to bite year round but heres some additional lures and baits you should think about when pond fishing, some frogs, big curly/ribbon tail worms, creature baits on a texas rig, and lighter chatterbaits/spinnerbaits when the days have some wind.

Their ratings on that rod seem off "1/4-3/4" i wouldnt want to throw a 1/2oz lipless on that rod let alone a 3/4oz lure. I use my MH for 1/2oz-3/4oz and my Medium for 1/8oz-3-8oz.
A weightless senko weighs around 3/8oz, a 1/8oz jighead with a finesse worm weighs anywhere between 3/16oz to 1/4oz after putting on a worm. And remember for using baitcasters for lures in that range or lighter its more the reel than the rod, i have a Daiwa Tatula SV TW and Shimano SLX MGL and they can throw those lures on that rod or even the MH. I wouldnt go ML i would stick to medium in whatever brand rod you choose. Remember the shaky head jigs have a big strong hook.

I just got a few of the new knockoff Mag Drafts Zaldain has on the market, ive wanted to try some Mag drafts for awhile but these were on sale and people have said they work good reeling them fast or slow. That being said im kind of disappointed in how small these and the actual Mag Drafts are (not in length but how narrow and thin they are, well compared to my other soft swimbaits in same lengths). I think ill use them more for smallmouth or skipping under docks since its hard enough of a plastic to do so.
Now my bigger swimbaits are a mix of soft line thru trouts/bluegills, and hard swimbaits/glidebaits, along with a couple big wakebaits. They range from 1oz to over 6oz.
Big swimbaits arent going to catch you tons of bass, now there are days you can catch lots of bass but where they really work is catching the biggest bass in your lake or pond. But sometimes you will get a 1 or 2 lber that thinks it can somehow eat it.
Depending on the bottom of the lake and where the fish are might slow roll on the bottom, fish them around structure either fast or slow depending on how the bass are feeding that day, or fish them just below the surface.
I dont get to fish them as much as i would like to because every pond and lake near me has pickerel or pike, some lakes there is a 50-50 ratio of them to bass and others you might get a toothy fish every one in a while. So when i fish them theres a steel leader on them, and i think that makes the bass bite less. Sometimes it might make them not bite it at all.

Ive said this a few times on here, i dont like fluoro and i dont like mono for mainline (except when using swimbaits or fishing for panfish). Almost all of my main used casting reels have YZ Hybrid on them, for me it brings the best of both lines but at a budget price and without a tangled mess.
I fish alot of wood/rocky areas and also areas where most of the lake is grass and it handles it all great, when fishing a football jig the other day i could feel almost every rock it crawled over so the sensitivity is good enough for my fishing. It has some stretch but i prefer it since its not too much like mono but not too stiff like fluoro. Good balance on the stetch/sensitivity.
Ive caught bass from 1lb to 8lbs and havent had any bass break the line, even after a couple dozen big bass bite the lure the line had some wear and tear but kept on going and didnt break.

Choppo has the hard tail, Plopper soft tail, results in one being louder than the other, if you fish alot of rocky areas or around docks/trees the plopper has a more durable tail since its rubber.
They are both good, but usually can get the Choppo for $6 on sale most of the year.
Get one of each and find what works best in your waters.