Anytime anyone throws a garden hose away in my rounds, I grab it. Cut it into various lengths with the minimum being 3 ft. Stick them into a bucket of concrete in whatever pattern you want. Most of them have a natural coil from being stored that way, so place them to bend outwards.

The change in depth is defined as contour. I thought I was mistaken but looked up "structure" through merriam-webster dictionary. "Structure is something that is built organized or arranged". "Usually built by putting parts together such as a home or bridge". We are off subject but irregardless, I still think its a healthy subject wondering different types of man made structures such as brush piles and how they are built and with what materials and their level of success.

Most docks are made of treated lumber....I do put plain hardwood limb in there to sweeten it....I use oak or sweet gum with leaves (green) with equally good results

With my electronics I stumble on a few , no disrespect lot easier than sinking them , been there done that .

From Bassmaster magazine which is the authority... not sure that Mirriam or Webster were fishermen. Best not to come in with 9 posts under your belt and try to tell a bunch of lifelong fishermen (them, not me) how they're wrong and you're right; just sayin'...

STRUCTURE VS. COVER

I often hear anglers speak of fishing "structure," like weeds, stumps or rocks, when what they're actually referring to is "cover." So before we delve into the mysteries of structure fishing, let's make sure we're on the same page by getting our definitions straight: "Structure" refers to the topographical components of a lake, including creek and river channels, points, flats, humps and submerged roadbeds. "Cover" refers to objects associated with these components, including submerged logs, standing timber, stumps, rocks, weeds and boat docks. Structure often has cover on it � a point may have a rockpile on the end; the top of a hump may be covered with weeds; a creek channel may be lined with stumps."

Taken from:
https://www.bassmaster.com/fish-structure-correctly

Okay, lets replace the word structure from previous posts with the word cover. With that said, I will say after 35 years of tournament fishing and building and maintaining 42 brush piles on Toledo Bend, I have always done it old school I will call it. I have cut buck brush, willow, oak, and sweet gum. I feel that when I freshen up a pile with sweet gum the results are better. My original question was and still is, I have noticed guys using man made items PVC, Pallets, etc. instead of things provided by mother nature. Still think there are a number of ingenious and creative ways to build cover to hold fish and would love to hear about the construction and success and pictures if possible.

make tree using 1/2" pvc put it in a bucket of cement and drop it overboard. won't get hung up with pcv as much.

so much for that previous comment made by the guy about you being a "9 posts made haven't ever fished before don't tell us about stuff"... LOL I think some people just get on here to jerk off to their own comments cus they think they are fn God's great gift to fishing! 35 years of fishing Puma I think you can make whatever comments you want!!

I came across this type of stuff a few years ago on Ft. Gibson. The lake had fallen and you could see these things just under the water. I'll have to say they are some dang fine cover. I caught fish on every one I found. The beauty of it was you could run any crankbait through it and it would not snag, if it hung a little, the hose would bend and you could pull the bait off the end. I pulled one up to see how it was built. They had about 8 or 10 pieces of hose about 2-3' long, all stuck in a concrete block that had been poured. For shallow water cover, these things are hard to beat.

bamboo

When I had a place on Cypress Springs a buddy down the road asked me to help him sink some piles he made up. I sure wouldn't have done it the way he did. But the end result was his brush pile yielded more fish and more big fish than any of the other ones regularly fished. He had simply cut a bunch of small limbs (no particular species) and tied them all together. The limbs were no large than 1' in diameter and maybe 4-5' long each. But they were brushy like the end of a limb. He brought all the bases together tied them all tight. He had me lay on them while he tightened up the cinch knot and pulled them in tight. When we finished each pile was about 6'-8' in diameter and maybe 4'-5' tall. We took them one at a time and sank them. We waited until we got on site to tie the concrete block to them to make it easier to load onto his pontoon boat. We sank 4 piles off a secondary point in 15' of water across from Tall Tree Marina. He placed a marker where the first one was dropped so we knew where to return. No one had GPS back then. I caught more fish out of that brush pile and it lasted 2-3 years. And all it was was a bunch of sticks from a clean up job he did in the yard. I would have never placed it where he did or built like he did. But it turned out to be the best brush pile I knew of on the lake.

I'm curious. Do they not lay down flat after being in the water for a period of time? Or do they stay curved and hold their shape?

Pond King makes an artificial tree that works great. It has many benefits. Firstly its durable and will be in the lake until someone removes it, so no replacing decaying material. Secondly its snag proof so even bumping crankbaits through it you won't loose lures. That means you don't snag and disrupt the hole on your first cast, or second, or third... Lastly, from what we've experienced, they don't show up on electronics, or not until they've developed thick algae cover.

Those are very nice if money isn't an issue. If you have your own boat slip or dock that would make sense. But to sink off "structure" out in the lake I can't see spending that kind of money. Especially if you want to sink several piles. All it takes is time and a few inexpensive materials to build and sink several brush piles.