Judging by the number, I don’t think that they had any intention to bring them home to clean or they just sorted them out and picked the biggest to take home.
Either that or they are arm chair biologists who either think those crappies are killing off the walleye or by killing them some how the average size of the ones in the lake will get bigger.
Or there is always “I though you wanted to bring some home, I was keeping them for you” or they woke up with a hangover wondering where they put the fish when they got home.