LRunkle - Back to your original questions. I thought the same as you, put SMB in a earth bottom pond with no sand or gravel and then there would be no spawning. I would have good control of bass numbers. That idea did not work for me. Darn things still spawned. They must have used the hard pan clay bottom for the nests. I had several successful spawns over the years.
2. "Is it because they are not widely available to replenish on a put and take basis?" That is one reason they are not used very much. Hatcheries have a hard time producing lots of smallie fingerlings on a regular basis. LMB are easier to produce, grow faster and get bigger, thus more pondowners like or use LMB more commonly.
Last edited by Bill Cody; 12/15/17 09:00 PM.
