So if I'm fishing a farm pond that has 5lb bass, how heavy of line should I use? And how much force should be required to pull drag?

 

Pretty much anything 6# test and over, with the drag set to 1/3 the test-strength to start...you can tighten it during the fight if needed, but not too much. Use the line appropriate to the lure...I wouldn't toss a 3/8oz spinnerbait on 8# mono, just like I wouldn't rig a shakey to 30# braid.

   Welcome to BR, Allen!

 

   It sounds like you're relatively inexperienced. Could you tell us whether you are using a spinning rig or casting rig? And please tell us which size reel and which power rod. It would help a LOT.

   Off the top of my head, I would not recommend less than 12 lb. test line. Nylon line (monofilament) that heavy is kinda stiff for spinning gear, though. Most people who use spinning gear do it for finesse techniques, which are lower power, and many use braid. Braid is thinner, and more suited to spinning gear in the lower test weights.

   Nylon is great for casting reels.

 

   Come on back and talk to us! We'll confuse you as best we can!    ??   jj

Welcome to BR! 
 

At present I’m fishing ponds exclusively. I’m currently running either 12 lb YZH or 10 lb Berkeley Big Game on my baitcasters, and two of my spinning rigs are spooled with 6 lb Berkeley XL (my other spinning rig will be getting respooled with 20 lb Seaguar Smackdown Lime Flash Green braid with a 6 lb FC leader). If you’re using mono, IMO 6 lb is more than sufficient. I just caught this 5 lb’er two days ago on 6 lb XL on a Daiwa Procyon MXF rod and a Shimano Sienna 2500 reel. 
 

if you set your drag with a scale or by dead weight, set it for 2 lbs. If you set it by feel, it should start to release line without much effort. IMO, I’d rather add drag vs letting it off when fighting a fish. 

How much cover is there? The lighter the better and if its open water you can probably get away with 4lb test on a spinning reel.

 

Fish weight does not determine line weight ...

My eyes aren’t good enough for tying knots in 4 lb test! 

2 hours ago, BrianMDTX said:

My eyes aren’t good enough for tying knots in 4 lb test! 

 

You seem to be doing good with 6lb test though!

46 minutes ago, garroyo130 said:

 

You seem to be doing good with 6lb test though!

It’s a struggle at times! I have to take my time.