Words of Caution. There are negative aspects to reducing too many "small" bass of a certain size group either by over fishing or by having larger predators eating young adult bass/predators.
Having numerous smaller bass does have positive points. 1. It puts heavy predation pressure on the youngest panfish which results in overall bigger panfish or better overall balance of fishes. 2. Larger panfish and numerous smaller adult bass (9"-15") provide lots of fun and fast catching for many anglers, especially younger or inexperienced anglers. For instance- Getting Hooked on Fishing. Mark Cornwell also explains the benefits of having numerous smaller bass in ponds in the Jan-Feb 2010 Pond Boss magazine pg 30 ("After Work Quantity").
IMO having too few small to medium sized bass increases the chances of producing too few large bass that are often hook smart and very hard for even experrienced anglers to catch. Sometimes they, the biggest ones, are never caught a second or third time. For more on this topic see "Conditioning Fish" by Steve Pennaz in North American Fisherman Feb 2010. Many anglers are very happy catching several 3-5 lb (17"-21") bass from the well managed pond vs only the occassional rare trophy 7-9 lb bass (23"-25") that can typicaly be produced per 1-2 acres of water.
Keep in mind that as top end predators such as Pike, musky, flathead and blue cats GROW LARGER they tend to eat larger and larger fish. The pre-planned selective removal then changes. This can mean, instead of removing 6"-9" bass, a regular loss of 11"-15" bass occurs that can easily lead to what I would call a skewed bass population and an overabundance of smallish type of panfish. Then the overall fishery potential often declines to result in a trend toward the opposite of the original goal. In that too few larger fish are present that are harder and harder to catch producing an increasing number of genetically and angler hook conditioned bass among a few hook wise top end predators. Top end predators become hook smart too. What happens if the top predator diversifies his diet with other species besides those planned fish (small bass)? This fish combination becomes even more complicated if other forage species such as shad and/or rough fish or other types of predators are present. Large predators are known to be selective feeders.
Also keep in mind that as one normally ascends up the predator population size structure, there are fewer and fewer fish in each larger size class. This means that a continually growing predator is not always removing the same initial or planned size or species of fish. Its meals often consist of larger and larger fish.
Granted there is a fairly wide medium ground (balance?) between too many small bass and too few bass. The goal or goals of the fishery manager are very important to the methods used for achieving the goals. I think it is often better to have more control of the fishery by not having unpredictable top end predators present compared to the manager having more control and deciding which fish to keep or remove. Remember that large bass do frequently eat smaller bass and sometimes that number can be significant and it can be quite adequate in many instances when the fishery is managed properly with good knowledge.
Be cautious and thoughtful when adding the top end predators such as pikes and larger catfishes to especially smaller waters (<2-3 ac, maybe even 5 ac). Yes they are exciting to catch, but IMO the more large predators or portions of predators (0.5/ac) that one has per acre the less control one has on what happens in the fishery. Large predators can easily remove too many of the wrong size or species of fish. Those predators live by their rules not yours. For more information about fish stocking plans gone awry see ewest's article "Unintended Consequences" in Pond Boss Mag Nov-Dec 2009 pg 58. This is a more common problem that one would think, even for state fishery agencies.
In smaller waters, it is sometimes in the end, more beneficial to have anglers in a controlled setting, selectively removing the unwanted bass while they have lots of fun catching numerous, aggressive, willing to bite a lure bass. IMO selfish desires of uninformed or naive people have ruined numerous, potentially very good fisheries.
