This question as well has probably been asked a number of time:

1. When fishing brush piles or submerged timber do you start off from the bottom and work your way up or star shallower and work your way down the water column?

2. During a summer pattern generally what is the deepest depth of water(the bottom depth) you fish and generally the depth of the column of water you fish in that depth?

2. If you always start off at the bottom what about once the thermocline sets in and you are fishing standing timber in 21 foot of water, will you fish the bottom or only go down to a certain depth?

Once again thanks for any input. Hopefully my questions are clear enough to be understood.

I do both.

Sometimes I will start up top and work my way down and other times I will go deep and work up. I mainly do whatever it takes to get bit.

As far as deepest depth...I have caught fish in the Summer in 35 feet of water right on the bottom. I have also caught them in as shallow as 6 feet of water early in the day.

When fishing timber simply start out at a depth and start going until you get a bite. After a few trees and strikes you will zero in on where they are hanging out at that day.

We fished a tree in 36 feet of water a couple weeks ago.

We started at rod length or 8 feet and nothing.
We went to 10 feet and nothing.
We went to 12 feet and nothing.
We went to 14 feet and nothing.
We went to 16 feet and nothing.
We went to 18 feet and SLAM! Dropped down to 18 feet again and SLAM! Dropped down to 18 feet again and SLAM! Dropped down to 18 feet again and nothing.
We dropped down to 20 feet and SLAM! SLAM! SLAM! SLAM! then nothing.
We dropped down to 22 feet and SLAM! SLAM! SLAM! SLAM! SLAM! SLAM! then nothing.
We dropped down to 24 feet and nothing.
We dropped down to 26 feet and nothing.
We dropped down to 28 feet and SLAM! SLAM! SLAM! SLAM! SLAM!(SMALL ONES)
We dropped down to 30 feet and SLAM! SLAM! SLAM! SLAM! SLAM! SLAM! (SMALL ONES)
We dropped down to 32 feet and nothing.
We dropped down to 34 feet and SLAM! SLAM! SLAM! (BIG ONES).
Then nothing.

27 fish off one tree with 16 keepers. All we did was fish until we got bit and we would zero in on that depth until no more bites and then keep varying the depth. If one is there they will hammer it. If not go find a tree with one that wants to hammer it. I am sure there are a ton of techniques...just sharing what I do.

You can also drop down to bottom and then wind a crank and wait and then wind a crank and wait and see if you get bit on the way up.

Good Luck. If you have any other questions feel free to ask.

If you have DI on your TM, start at the shallowest depth you see fish at and work your way down.

You can see there is not much use in fishing below the thermocline once it sets in.

I'm a bottom-up kinda guy. It's worked for me, so see no reason to change, but to each their own.

Okay I appreciate the responses.

I'm with SCK, always start top down. When fish are hooked they go in fright mode. Hooking the bottom fish will spook any others that may be there as you reel them through the other fish. Hooking the top fish will also spook the fish but not as bad. That's what Hogon's example shows. The fish got spooked and moved deeper.
And as SCK said, once the thermocline sets in, fishing below it is a waste of time.

Depends on the time of day. In the morning they'll often be suspended, so I like to go top down. If it's mid day, I'll go bottom up.

Both

2 rods 2 depths until you locate. Fastest way.