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As noted - Smallmouth bass are hard to find at fish farms all over the USA compared to LMB are available at every retail fish farm.
In my lengthy experience with YP in ponds minnows and shiners are the best forage species for growing yellow perch. However the best predator for controlling YP and still having enough YP harvested for table use,,,, the LMB is not the preferred predator. This is because the LMB eat too many and too large of the narrow bodied (fusiform) YP that they easily swallow. LMB with yellow perch are not well compatible and usually after several years and the old stocker YP die. The reproducing prolific LMB have eliminated basically all the slender bodied YP unless the pond has extensive cover habitat as refugia for the small perch. Bes habitat for YP and LMB is weeds weeds weeds. Minimal or non reproducing predators such as SMB, HSB or walleye or saugeye always work best for producing a high quality yellow perch fishery. Controlling the numbers and sizes of predator are key points for a quality YP fishery.

More practical research needs to be done to learn more about spawning and producing young of year SMB. At this point in time SMB are not an easy fish to spawn to dependably produce young of year. This feature is a big reason why SMB are often well used as predators for yellow perch. Too many predators eat too many of the small YP especially in ponds that have minimal algae and weeds.


If the forage base is lacking, maybe there is not enough habitat and cover as forage fish refuge areas or there are too many predators eating forage fish. As in all wildlife management, balance is very important for a self sustaining fishery depending on ones goals.