This is an interesting thread, I have never before heard of or noticed a problem with blues dying after they are caught. When I was buying channels from Kens hatchery in georga there were a bunch of blues mixed in with them. When my dad or I catch a little catfish we toss it into the cage with the stripers to moniter thier growth and to see how they do in there. It may be because they were all smaller than 18", but I never had a single blue die. They did every bit as well as the channels. Another note is that the blues have been gorging themselves to no end on pellets and growing aproxamatly twice as fast as the channels from the day they were put in. One was 171%. And big_pond, keep in mind that even IF blues don't grow any faster (which deosn't seem to be the case in my pond) they still live to great old ages and are far more likely to reach 30+ LBS.
I'm nowhere near being an expert, but I hope I could help
-Scott
