The effect of bending is anticipated in an optical fiber design, so that resonant coupling remains an effective strategy for suppressing HOMs. The index profile of the fiber and its bend radius are configured so that there is selective resonant coupling of at least one HOM, but not the fundamental mode, in the bent segment of the fiber. In an illustrative embodiment, the bend radius (or predetermined range of bend radii) of an optical fiber is known a priori. The core and cladding regions are configured to support (guide) the propagation of signal light in a fundamental transverse mode and at least one higher-order transverse mode in the core region. The cladding region includes an outer cladding region and an annular trench region. The trench region includes at least one axially extending, raised-index pedestal (waveguide) region having a refractive index higher than that of the outer cladding region. Within at least the bent segment the at least one pedestal region is configured (i) to support the propagation of at least one transverse mode and (ii) to resonantly couple at least one of the higher-order transverse modes (HOMs) of the core region to at least one transverse mode (e.g., the fundamental mode) of the pedestal region when the fiber is bent to a radius within the predetermined range of radii. In effect, the pedestal regions are configured so that the fiber is pre-compensated for the effect of bending; that is, an uncompensated bent fiber segment suffers high fundamental mode loss due to resonant coupling, whereas the pre-compensated bent fiber segment selectively couples any unwanted HOM from the core region into the pedestal region. In a preferred embodiment, the optical fiber is a LMA fiber incorporated in an optical fiber amplifier or laser package.