New to bass fishing!

[chunkstyle]

Hello everyone!
I'm from Oregon, going to Texas (San Antonio) for a few months on military orders, and I thought it would be a good time to learn about bass fishing. I've been a trout guy all my life, but there are some good bass waters in Oregon too. Anyway, I'm looking forward to getting into a new type of fish with new tackle and other goodies to buy!
Does anyone have any good locations near San Antonio (the closer the better. Metro ponds?) I should check out? I'm happy catching decent fish all day, as opposed to catching two great fish in one whole day. Also, if you had to have one small (small!) tackle box in the SA area, what lures/colors would you ABSOLUTELY bring? Thanks everyone, looking forward to benefiting from experience!
-chunkstyle