As soon as brushpiles become automatic when you fish them then I'll worry about them. I think all too often people justify losing a tournament or a bad performance in a tournament by automatically saying someone won on a pile.
Brushpiles are like anything else in fishing, its all about timing. They are not automatic.

This is a crazy pose..It is just my opinion...Making a productive trash pile or brush pile is calculated... I can't just take my boat out in the middle of the lake and throw pallets of trees and come back the next day and win a tournament off of it. Using the right cover as well as strategicly placing it is skill all in itself in my eyes. Not to mention, with the lakes around here, even it does turn into a productive spot, you might get two tournaments to yourself, and after that guys will be out there during the week plucking off whatever bites..Grapevine and Lewisville are very cut-throat tournament lakes.

I found it terrible...but just my opinion..

as long as you are not doing it on a lake on which it is prohibited then go for it. I tried it on a couple of lakes - but then the big drought came. A lot of trouble for nothing, so I gave up. But believe me if I find one on a lake where I know they are prohibited, I'll fish it if you are wondering. That action is not breaking the law.

the only thing that bothers me is when people use their unwanted items/trash for piles. The lake is not a dumping whole for washing machines.

I didn't say that. I personally believe that before you go brushpiling you need to learn how to read structure. I'll find structure and fish the cover I find. If it's a brushpile then so be it. The fish are more likely to use structure to get to the cover. A good brushpile will be on or near good structure. Like Senko commented...too many brushpiles can ruin a good spot.

I have never seen tourney rules that forbid it so no its not cheating.

Maybe I mis-interpreted Mark's post. I thought he was saying placing a feeder to bag a 10 pt buck is like placing a pile to catch a big ole pig. LOL

If the intent of the post was to say someone who fishes brush piles is a bad fisherman, that I totally disagree with the post. I can take you to 13 piles out on grapevine and give you the same bait and setup that I'm using, and that doesn't mean your going to catch them.

It sure isn't cheating and I doubt will ever be cheating as it is to hard to control and prove. I do know quite a few tournament anglers that plant brush, although I have never done it myself. Guessing that sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn't, just like most things in fishing. Since I have never done it I am not sure, but it seems to me it could become a crutch when an angler has to go to a lake that they havn't taken the time to seed. But even at the pro level brush planting is done. There are other things that tournament anglers do that are less sportsman like in my mind. It sure isn't a given that someone that spends weeks planting brush for a given tournament is going to cash a check, let alone win. It does happen, but I am betting more times than not it ends up costing the angler rather than helping. I could be wrong, those that plant brush for events might be able to tell the rest of us. But I would think if all it took to win tournaments was spending a few hours planting brush piles, that more would do it.

I have heard that RR was famous for having teams of his employees planting brush on Lewisville and that is why he won so often on that lake. But I sure don't know that for a fact.

It's just the way our sport is.. is it fair that someone has a 60,000 boat with a HD super large structure scan sonar and has 5 days off a week to prefish and has brushpiles all over the lake.. No... but it's just the way it is and when you can do well in a tournament without all of those possible advantages, it makes it even cooler. Also, sometimes too much preparation can actually screw up your tournament day cause you're not fishing in the moment and going by instinct.

You want fair, the first bass masters classic was fair.. same boat, same tackle, no knowledge of the lake beforehand.. anything else is not 100% evenly matched, it's just a fact.

When we going? lol

Seriously, I don't think he was saying that at all. Both are good anglers, there is no doubt.

Let me get started tossing out a few tons of brush, if anyone is bound to get a ticket it will be me I and I will post it here.

I think that's an interesting angle and I've thought about it before. Technically I do believe it is breaking the rules on Corp of Engineers lake. Most tournament rules state that all State and Federal laws apply. So technically speaking you've broken a rule by breaking the law.

I think the reason it's not an issue that comes up in tournaments and directors don't pursue it is the fact that it's near impossible to prove. It would cause much more problems by policing it than it would solve.

Me personally, I don't have a problem with brushpilers.

If sinking brush piles is ok, how about using underwater cameras or divers to locate the fish? Where do you draw the line?

You can use underwater cameras and dive. Not during a tourney. Most rules i have seen forbid it. They don't forbid brushpiles. The written rule is where you draw the line. This is not that hard.