Ok well first off your in cali and you guys have tons of fish there.

If I were you I would go freshwater fishing 1st because its the easiest. You guys have trout, largemoth bass, bluegills and I think smallmouth bass as well. Rumor has it that Cali has the world record for largemouth bass.

As far as bait you should go live bait because it increases your chances of catching a fish due the how real the presentation is. Using artificial takes and little bit more skill and time. For a pole you should able to visit your local walmart and buy and normal Freshwater pole which probaly already has good fishing line on it. Around 10 pound testis good for what you need. THe amount of time you spend at a spot does matter. You may even have to visit the smae spot more thatn once to learn the pattern needed to catch them. Bluegills in my opinion is the easiet fish to catch. You could use bread or buy some live crickets and they love them. I hop this information helps. Heres a video I made with some blue tips.