Overton has a point : quote "this practice { taking out bass by hook and line} would select for fish that weren't easy to catch." , by which I assume he means , this pratice will have the effect of taking out bass that were catchable and thus leaving a higher % of non-catchable or hard to catch bass. While this idea has merit it is limited by several factors.

Large bass , catfish and BG non-selectively eat many times more bass 12 in. and under as a % than man takes out as a predator. Further some of the small bass caught by man would as they got older or more conditioned become less catchable. However many of the small bass caught by man would be the most catchable bass in the pond . Therefore to the extent they are taken out the remaining population as a % is less catchable. This does not answer the question of is it worse in small ponds because the take out rate is based on per acre amounts which as a % is the same in both small and large ponds. I do think that the pratice of taking out lots of 10-14 in. bass by hook repeatedly over time does make the catchability of the remaining population less {worse}.

Seperate from this idea is the recommendation of taking out male bass which many recomend and I think is a very good idea.

Electrofishing as Dave notes is non-selective and may help but is not a complete answer as costs have to be considered . Reducing the number of bass followed by adding of bass berd for aggressiveness is a partial answer. Taking out bass by using live bait is also a partial answer. So is the following.

Here is where the second pond comes into play. In your second pond start with a good forage base and then add a selection of different size bass that were caught by hook from the first pond or add only fish that were selectively bred for aggressiveness and then caught by hook. See the report Dave referenced and others which show that the pond stocked with parents with high catchability produced like populations.

No doubt other conditiond behavior or genetic traits come into play like competition , growth rates and others. One interesting study on fish in Fla. and Ga. showed that most of the trophy bass had fast growth rates and reached much larger size at an early age. These fish were the most aggressive in their year class and even though fat would still out compete the rest of their class. Eating is a genetic hard wired event based on metabolism and all feed as much as possible when the water temp. is right and spawning is not in mind.

One other point which I saved for last. I have seen and heard reports {speculation} that bass when hooked {stressed} and released back into the water release some sort of chemical or other response that acts as a warning or negative stimulus and reduces at least for a time the catchability of the fish in that area. If so then in a small pond the catching of a couple of fish if released can effect a large part of the pond and reduce catch rates. ewest