Well, we can all speculate but that's about it.
One possibility is that there was very little recruitment the last 2-3 years. This may be due to the infamous variable crappie spawning patterns (large spawns some years, little or no spawn other years).
Speculating further, most of us would expect a BG/LMB pond that had not been fished for 6 years to be bass heavy resulting in many small bass with larger than avg panfish (BG and crappie) but not a lot of small ones. Some of your comments seem to suggest this may be the case in this lake.
Another plausible explanation is you just haven't found the small crappie yet.
With seine surveys, thorough angling records, and/or professional help, I am sure you can shed some light on this mystery. Good luck and please keep us posted. Many of us are interesting in crappie in smaller ponds.
