I have an old college buddy who's family/business owns considerable acreage with a number of ponds/small lakes. They manage their waters to entertain business clients, friends and family. I have fished there as a guest several times annually over the past 35 years. With the exception of one lake managed for big copper nose bluegill, all the others are managed for big bass. My buddy has caught and released more 10-12 lb bass of anyone I know. He basically has one rule; remove "all" crappie caught, any eaten' size bluegill, all chain pickerel, and bass under three pounds. We release all red-ear sunfish. He allows a person to keep a large bass for a mount. Now, I've been banging around in ponds since the late 1950s and have not fished any waters better than the ones they manage. I may have a small bias as my personal best largemouth bass[13lb 12oz] was taken in one of their ponds on February 23, 1989, as well as my PB bluegill[1.25 lb.] on a fly rod. The 13-12 is shown below.
Most of their ponds/small lakes maintain a good forage base of bluegill and wild golden shiners. Because these waters are fed by streams, it is a constant chore to remove competing species, but on the positive side, the streams continue to provide a dependable supply of golden shiners.
Their simple management plan may not be good for all waters, but it has worked well for these folks.
Two weeks ago I spent four days bowhunting hogs with a group of friends on some of their property, and helped them obtain fish for a large fish fry. We removed and filleted around 150 or so black crappie, 50 or so bass and a dozen bluegill, as well as releasing a number of bass up to 6.5 Lbs. We were fishing mostly light tackle geared for crappie, our primary target to remove. Here's what part of our first day's catch look like.
