I am no expert,the following is from what I have read, then observed in our lake system in N/W Ontario, someone else's take may be different.
This time of year the only place I have found crappie in our lake system (50,000 acres of water) is in the deeper areas, which in our case is 20'-30' of water (have never seen them in shallow water like in some of the videos from the States). From first safe ice on the crappie in our lake are normally at or near the bottom and not in big groups. They are not very aggresive early on like this, you have to have a fish finder, see the fish and make them bite, even then, many still swim on by. This seems to change as the months go on, I start seeing larger groups, they are more aggresive and seem to be in more varying depths starting in February on to ice out (for us, late April-May). I have been experimenting with different lures this winter, trying to trigger the bite, but as of this time, 1/8 oz or smaller jighead and small minnow seem to be working about as good as anything for me.
This may or may not be the situation going on in your lake, but try fishing the deep holes, early in the day, late in the afternoon, that may be where they are at.