@rosen when i was a kid we used to go catch (and mostly release) fish from the cattle ponds on my family's farm in kansas. bullheads, sunfish, little bass. we used old gear that had been sitting on the back porch for decades, sometimes worms we dug up from the yard.
sometimes there would be snapping turtles or cottonmouth snakes to avoid. standing in the blazing sun with insects buzzing in the tall grass casting over and over again into the murky pond water is one of my happiest memories.