... they'd have most likely been suspended below the bottom of the baitfish school, so your Rooster Tail method should have produced "something".

If there was little to no current, they could have been to the outside of the baitfish school, or even a little ways off from there. If there was current, the Crappie would have been on the down current side of the pilings, or above/below the cross beams of the pilings ... out of the current, and in the eddy water.

... cp