it may seem counter-intuitive to release those bruiser crappie, but in my mind there are two different trains of thought:
1) Those bruiser crappie may be reaching the end of their life cycle anyways, so by releasing them your only allowing them to die in an ecosystem that arguably doesn't need any more extra food. Instead, by keeping them you're enjoying some quality table fare!
2) Without keeping these crappie and keeping a detailed log, you have no way of knowing if those 17"ers are in their prime condition or if they could be 20"ers but just can't feed enough!
I know there are some experts on this forum who could tell by looking at pictures if a crappie was stunted or not, so maybe add some high-quality photos for reference. I would also highly recommend looking into the relative weight charts for your fish population. They have been very helpful in management of my family's pond (smaller BOW).
Last edited by DisplacedGill; 06/18/17 08:50 PM. Reason: Addition of content
