Mark, I've bought the 3-4" RBT from Overton's, and raised them to 8-10" for forage. Just my experience, but they are a blast to raise, and grow really fast if you feed them pellets, and stock a good number of FHM's also. The small ones jump out of the water when they feed, and it's quite the show. They're also the easiest fish I've ever raised to seine out. They like the more open water in the middle of the hatchery pond, so dropping the water level to make sure you get them all isn't really necessary. They don't stay close to the bank like CNBG.
I've seen them swimming the big pond banks as late as mid March. I'm not sure how long they would live here because they disappeared PDQ. It pretty much depends on the water temps, and if you have O2, which I don't. I guess they're more of a treat than anything else, but it's a fun relatively cheap project for the amount of good they do for LMB.
