An old farmer said I could fish in his pond. He said it had not been fished in for about 10 years. What tackle should I use?

Without any kind of scouting report about the lake, it's hard to specifically offer any advice.

What color is the water? How clear is the water? What is the surrounding topography? What kind of vegetation surrounds the lake? Is it a creek fed lake?

Does the lake have a clean bottom? Is it full of wood, weeds, or rocks? What kind of life do you see in the shallows? Any minnows? Small bream? Cruising bass?

Without any info whatsoever, it's hard to give an accurate answer to your question, however, if I were to be fishing this lake, I'd first start out early throwing baits for aggressive fish. Topwater first, a pop-r, then a floating rapala. After the sun got up some, I'd try a husky jerk in some form of shiner color. Then I'd go with a weightless worm in a natural color like watermelon seed, first a senko, then I'd go with a Zoom trick worm. If the natural colors didn't work, I'd go with a bright color like bubble gum.

If none of those lures drew a strike by lunch, and I noticed no obvious signs of feeding bass on the surface, I'd tie on a 1/2 ounce carolina rig Lizard, and try to locate bottom structure. Weed edges, creek channels, rocks, brushpiles, drop offs, pipes, etc. In a small pond like this one, if there's a lack of structure, even the smallest structure available will draw deep bass like a magnet. You'd be surprised how bass relate to a small ditch channel in an otherwise featureless bottom.

if its a farm pond i would definatly assume that it has lots of moss and weeds and stuff in it. i would make sure to take some 4" and 6" plastic worms. take colors like black and junebug and chart. pepper. those are what work best for me at farm ponds, but you should take other colors too so that you can find out what works best for you. i would also take some bass jigs. 1/4-1/2 oz is probly the best. i like jigs that are black with a little bit of other colors in them, like black/chart., black/blue, and black/red. i also would take some topwater poppers and jitterbugs and walking baits. make sure you have a few Zoom Flukes. i would take 1 spinning outfit with about 8-10 lb line and then 1 baitcastiing outfit with 14-17 lb line.

I would only target the biggest fish in the pond. My mind set would focus on a 10+ lb bass. If you are fishing from the shore, soft plastics only. Specifically, a 6 or 7" Senko. If you can launch a small boat, I might add a jig to the mix.

I'm fishing a nine acre pond like yours, the Secret Pond. On my first trip I took a friend who boated the biggest largemouth I have ever seen in person. If I catch it, I'll keep it and we'll find out exactly how big it is.

Maybe you will have the same success. Good luck.

i agree with roadwarrior, senkos would be the way to go.  they work in a variety of sitatuations.  but i would also suggest trying a crankbait as well, near weeds, shallow.  After hitting weeds, i usually give a sharp tug to rid the weeds, and pause the retireve, this is when most of my strikes come.  Good luck, and bring a camera!

Truthfully, if it hasn't been fished in ten years,  I would venture to say just about anything you throw out there will get bit.