In Kansas, the best fishing maybe just across the street or down a little dirt road just outside of town. Ponds are everywhere in Kansas just teaming with
fish from small to large. The state record bass is from a pond at 11.8lbs caught by a kid. I will go over just a couple of great baits and tackle that you can use on a pond to catch a lot of fish and maybe your personnel best. Also these baits are great for kids to start fishing with.
If you only have one rod, I would recommended a spinning rod 6’6 to 7′ with a good reel that holds a lot of line around 8lb to 10lb of mono. If you have another rod, I would have a 6’6′ to 7′ baitcast rod with a 6.2:1 or 7:1 reel speed and holds 12lb to 15lb of mono.
The first lure, I would recommend is a Stickbait in Green Pumpkin and Black Blue Flake. You will want to throw it weightless on a Texas rig 3/0 hook. This is a great bait to use all year long, and it will be mostly weed proof. You can use it on the spinning combo recommended above. You can fish it many ways with small jerks or just throwing it out letting it slowly sink on a slack line making sure to watch your line for any movement. If you feel weight on the end of the line, reel up and swing away. My boys have caught some really big fish on a stickbait; so if you want to catch your personnel best I recommended investing in some type of stickbait. You can find a variety of stickbaits in most stores.
The seco
nd lure would be some type of topwater, such as a popper. This is a great bait to throw on both the rod/reel combos recommended above. A smaller popper works better on spinning. Catching a bass on the surface is just awesome! It is hard to explain the feeling of seeing the bass explode on the surface attacking your popper or any of the other topwater baits out there. But make sure to watch out fishing this bait. I have been hooked 6 times in me life, and 4 times were with poppers.
The third lure would be a Beetle Spin or Spinnerbait. I recommended throwing the beetle spin on spinning because they are usually a very tiny bait. But don’t let it fool you, they catch a lot of fish both big and small. I have had some of my best days on the water fishing a little beetle spin. All beetle spins come with silver blades, but I recommend buying some gold blades. I would throw the silver blade in sunny, clear water. Then use the gold blade on all cloudy days with clear and muddy water or sunny days with muddy water. For the Spinnerbait, use the blade colors in the same conditions as just mentioned. 
The two spinnerbait colors you need are white and white/chartreuse in a 1/4 oz, and use it on the baitcasting rod and reel. A good technique with the spinnerbait is to burn the lure as fast as you can just under the surface. You cannot reel faster then a bass can swim; if they want the lure, they will catch it.
In the next article, I will go over top lures 4 and 5, and what to look for in a pond to catch fish.