bigmac,
I can't speak for anyone else but my experience with them has been positive. We put 120 5" to 6" HSB in May 2005 and have seen very low mortality, probably fewer than 10% total.
Our water temps here won't be near as high as you'll see down south but I was suprised how well they wintered over with ice on the pond.
They are easy to feed and will grow rapidly as the pictures below show lots of fish in the 12" to 16" range.I'm hoping to get at least another 3 years out of them but will start harvesting some soon for fish frys.If I can get my in-laws to eat them they won't last 5 years.
Chip
PS- Sorry about the image sizing but I'm having a hard time today.
Waiting for the feed
Some BG and a lazy LMB with them
A little feed to get them stirred up
