tbatten,
The best place to catch a bass in Gainesville is Lake Alice by a mile. I went there and
caught an 11lb bass, it was awesome! That lake is just full of bass and gators.
But unfortunately, it is also trespassing so I almost got arrested

, fortunately the cop was a fisherman, and after I told him I caught that lunker and threw it back he let us off the hook.
Lake Alice is pretty high stakes, for safer less stressful fishing I would drive down to Rodmans Damn and you can go down the Ocklawaha which might be the most scenic river in FL.