For those that either make your own brush/rock piles or consistently fish them, what is your preferred location? What about a hump vs a creek - do you rather the incline/decline or the trough/flat? Like would you rather an area going from 20' to 8' and what part of that area is your favorite for the brush/rock pile or a creek going from 8' to 20'? I am a lifetime bank beater so asking with very little opinion/experience myself.

There are two that I have won tournaments on over the years that really stand out to me. You will have to do some research on FUNNEL Points to understand why they are so good at holding fish. Not ever point is a funnel point as they have specific characteristics.
- Funnel Points with a brush pill on the fist irregular feature on the inside of that point. Not on the end. Big fish always want to be just around the corner.
- Docks are a no-brain pieces of structure as they provide shade. With the brush pile next to the dock they have the best of both worlds. Not just any dock. The dock must be a deep water dock; meaning it is setting on the lip of a creek channel or there is a fast slope leading to deep water off that dock. This eliminates 95% of all docks and most are shallow water docks. Find the ones with the front posts setting in 8 to 10 ft. of water then side scan for brush or set your brush pile as close as possible on the afternoon shady side.

Can we expand the conversation to how big of a rockpile? Does it need to be a small cluster or a big cluster? Would 3 rocks the size of soccer balls mean anything to bass or the size of a small car?

Good question

Adding rocks isn�t practical. You need a lot of them or some really big boulders to make a difference

I sink trees and brush along with some pvc/irrigation tubing trees

The best brush piles will produce year round, but I also sink brush piles with prespawn, post spawn, winter, and summer in mind

In general, I like like 8-20 feet of water. Placing a brush pile too deep and you risk it being below the thermocline in the summer. Place one too shallow, and it becomes useless in drought conditions.

My usual process
Find an area that really sticks out from the rest of the lake.

For example, there is a small lake I fish where all the bank is either grass or clay dirt. There is one bank that is white limestone rock and gravel. That bank also happens to be the closest to deep water About 50 yards off that bank there is a sharp
Channel swing that comes close the bank. The channel swing makes a �v� with the point of the �v� facing the bank. There are humps on both sides of the �v� The brush pile sunk along that drop off into the �v� is very good

Find dramatic change in contours. There�s this expansive flat 4ft deep for about 200 yards, but in the middle of that samie samie flat is a cut that is about 20 yards wide and 8-10ft deep. Brush pile there is good

Find the deepest spot closest to the bank. Drop brush along that slope

Brush pile adjacent to the deepest dock

Brush pile adjacent to the drain or water intake/out take, adjacent to a fresh water spring, water fall

In the summer, take note of where you see the deepest aquatic vegetation (lily pads, grass, etc). Place a brush pile adjacent to this area. (This area is usually a hump or underwater point)

One thing we did in the fresh water days is find a good area away from the main crowds that runs shallow to deep, and plant brush down the break to cover a wide depth range; gets you fish all year long. There used to be an arrogant SOB on Conroe who fished the local tournaments; he thought he was some kind of fishing god. If you planted any brush even remotely near "his" areas, he'd drag and scatter them with his anchor. I always wanted to catch him doing it, but never could. He tore up several of the good ones that we put out off some shallow flats tapering down into the river channel up north, according to some of the local guides.