faw,

I think it's the eating...surprisingly "eating" qualities are very high on many folks lists for desirable fish characteristics. We had a thread several months back (years?), that discussed the preferred characteristics of "sport fish" and many, many people list eating qualities as one of the top ones...suspect they have never caught or tried to eat a Tarpon \:\)

I feel that catfish are the same way, i.e. they are in ponds mostly because of their eating qualities, but with $1 per pound catfish available in my area, it does not make any sense for me to allocate limited pond space to them.

Norm said it best in his post, "Another is to not insist on having species just because they are good to eat".