isaac - I agree w/ David W. & Bob L.
LMB belong with bgill and SMB will do better with another prey besides bgill. SMB are not naturally adapted to use bgill as the predominat forage. SMB rarely have successful spawns in small ponds with LMB present; exceptions can occur; but rarely. SMB are not as prolific and harder to get good spawns as LMB that is why hatcheries have so few of them compared to LMB. Often hatcheries do not get any spawn some years. Since SMB are not as prolific as LMB, LMB evenutally outnumber and thus out compete and eliminate the smallies over the long haul..
The best chance of your combination working, is to do as Dave suggests, do a heavy harvest/thinning of the LMB and protect all SMB. Since your prey is bgill, keep a close eye on their numbers because they can quickly get over abundant with low numbers of LMB. High numbers of small bgill eliminate the food for fingerling smallmouths and your recruitment will be nill. That is assuming you even get a SMB hatch each year which you probably won't. Your basic fish combination is wrong for a good chance of success without a lot of manipulation. You are in a catch 22 situation here. BC
