I know I have certainly been confused this year, or I should say even more confused than normal.
I took my pontoon out yesterday afternoon for a few hours and found the same thing you found. All the 10' and under timber did not contain crappie nor did the trees along the bank.
I found most showing up in trees and brush piles in 20' and deeper water. I fished one brush pile in 20' of water for two hours and caught 40 crappie but they were all small. Since this brush pile was sheltered from the wind and my goal was to just catch crappie, not keepers, I did not try the other more exposed positions.
A lot of those I caught were still dressed up for spawning.
We are all born ignorant but one must work really hard to remain stupid. -Ben Franklin
PROUD MEMBER OF TEAM GEEZER
Any day I'm fishing is a good day, regardless of what I catch.