I don't want to say that crappie in smaller ponds can't be done, but the truth is that crappie are very unpredictable in their spawning.
Some years, you may get huge spawns and other years you may get very little.
Because crappie spawn before most other species like bass, for example, the crappie fry and the young of the year (YOY) tend to deplete the food sources for the other later-spawning species' fry.
So crappies require substantial pond management and knowledge about what to do with them. They can overpopulate very quickly.
If you really want crappie, I would drop their stocking numbers from the approx. 100 per acre to maybe 50 in total for the approx. 3 acre pond. I would also only stock them after there are some adult predator fish in the pond.
As such, I think a Smallmouth/Yellow Perch pond could be very nice, as suggested, along with some Redear Sunfish if possible. Then after a few years, could you add some adult crappies?
Oh, and WELCOME TO POND BOSS!!!!!!!!!!
