I have two ponds about 3/4 and 1 acre. In my main pond I have LMB,BG, and CC. I also have about 12 10-13” SMB which initially stocked as a bonus fish last year. The more I think about it the more I’d like to try to give the SMB a chance to do their thing. Have any of you had success removing enough LMB with hook and line to tip the scales in favor of the SMB? Can a season of relentless LMB fishing get rid of all or nearly all of them? The pond is full of shale and some gravel which just seems so well suited for the SMB. I may add perch as additional forage fish too. Any help appreciated.

I'm not sure I'm qualified to answer your question but besides the LMB I see another potential issue, that being the BG present. I don't believe SMB can control the reproduction of BG creating other issues. You can always stay on the bass and remove what you can but not sure how it will work long-term.
Others here are trying this approach-4corners comes to mind trying this as well, maybe he will jump in. Some of the others here can share their experience with this.

Yes you can remove LMB to help the SMB. BG could be a problem. But removing enough LMB may be hard as many will become uncatchable (hook shy) as you remove those who will bite. In that case over time the remaining LMB will not be catchable (catchability is an inherited trait in LMB). May have to try other means to remove LMB.

Search for threads on catchability.

The two answers by Snipe and ewest provide good insight to your LMB-SMB questions. As Snipe says when you have BG you need LMB to keep BG from overpopulating. ewest has written a couple very good articles in PBoss magazine about catchability of LMB and them becoming hook shy. I agree with both member's conclusions. Hook smart - shy LMB characteristic has been discussed extensively in the past by PB forum members. LMB seem to have varying degrees of conditioning (smartness) regarding hook smart some willing bite lures others never bite lures. It is a distinct and common problem in small ponds with bass and even catfish. See topics in the Archives Common Pond Q&A section of about growing and managing LMB.
http://forums.pondboss.com/ubbthreads.php?ubb=showflat&Number=255372#Post255372


When you get rid of the LMB or significantly reduce them then BG being very prolific become a major overpopulation problem. The overabundance of BG with SMB discussions have been dealt with here in the past by several members. It is a labor intensive management issue. Trying to catch all the LMB is very difficult. You can fairly easily remove 80% to 95% of the LMB but as you remove the majority the remaining smart LMB become conditioned to seeing their co-horts struggling as they are removed, then those remaining smart bass become 'smarter' more hook shy and only the most finesse and creative anglers can get the last smarties to bite a hook.

I think your best, most successful, and least frustrating plan is to remove some LMB maybe 20-40% as mainly to allow more or ample food for the SMB to grow well. Then treat the SMB as bonus fish and periodically add several (ladder stock) 10"-12" SMB annually to build and maintain SMB numbers.

Now if you are really serious about loving and having a high quality SMB dominated fishery then bite the bullet and completely renovate your pond and restock it with your forage - panfish - SMB combination. Once renovated it only takes a couple years to grow quality SMB to catchable sizes when they have the proper forage food base.

I wanted to thank everyone for the replies. I have to be a bit mindful of my budget so starting over isn’t in the cards at the moment. And to be honest I’m looking at this as a bit of an evolving
Process - not necessarily as an end goal I’m striving for. I will Probably play with the fish population for a couple years and see What I can achieve - and learn. If I hit a point where my pockets are deeper or I become frustrated with my results then I’ll consider more drastic measures. The bottom line is I’m not sure exactly what I want yet so I’m going to play around until my end goal becomes more clear. Thank you all again for the great information!!