[familyop]

"I’m a little SE of you Eric.
I wish I knew an old farmer near me with no kids who had a huge farm pond filled with catfish that he didn’t care about."

There should be some ponds with largemouth bass in them. The more brush or water weeds, the better. In one of those, try a large, noisy topwater lure (like a Jitterbug) at sundown and for about an hour after sundown. Pull it slowly, so that it makes the most noise (plop, plop, plop,...).

I caught a few between six and a little over eight pounds that way long ago. An open face spinning reel and a rod with large eyelets can be low priced and afford great control for that. Be sure to set the drag light enough for patience for fighting a big one (avoid snapping the line).

In the morning, from sunup to an hour after sunup, try a large, purple, plastic worm. Run the point of a large hook into the top end of the worm, out the side and with the point of the hook just barely into the side of the worm again. Jig it, so that it looks active.

Sundown to an hour after with that topwater lure is best, though.

[familyop]

“An open face spinning reel,” the kind that spins the reel and bail around when reeling, with the bail needing to be flipped over for casting.

[roofgoat]

familyop, I have a Heddon Lucky 13 Plug I like to “pop” early evening. Caught a lot of fish on this old 35 year old lure. Even hooked a massive tarpon on it...for about 5 seconds.

I don’t fish much anymore like I used to bit still have all my old lures.

Jitterbugs, Zara Spooks, Daredevils, Rapalas, and the go to bait - Rat L Traps.

When I fished FL waters, used 10” Tom Mann Black or Watermelon Rubber Worms Texas Rigged.