i am wanting to sink a couple brush piles in our stock tank (pond to those of you not from central TX.... ;D) what types of wood work best for this??? i was thinking some cedar trees.... :-/

Instead of using wood.  Get several 5 gallon plastic bucket remove the handle and any paper from them.   Just put about 3 inch of gravel in them and sink them.  The Algae will grow on the just like wood and you want get hung up like you do with wood and they will last forever.  Their is thousands of them used in Ky lake for crappie beds.

Just about everybody I know uses cedar, some have used tires and a couple that have even sunk an old car body in theirs. I "read" somewhere that ceder might retard algae growth that attracts smaller fish and woods like oak or willow might be better for that, but I haven't tested it myself. I don't see that it would matter in a smaller body of water.

what about cinder blocks?  i have 5-7 blocks i thought about dropping and marking with my gps.

do these work well?

If you can get mesquite.........that thing lasts forever !

what about cinder blocks? i have 5-7 blocks i thought about dropping and marking with my gps.

do these work well?

I personally like cinder blocks with small trees attached to them.......but a small pile of cinder blocks alone should attract a fish or two.

Hardwood with leaves still attached actually is preferred by largemouths, while cedars are preferred by baitfish. Around here Christmas trees are often bundled inside a mess of hardwood tops, then anchored with home-made concrete blocks much heavier than cinder blocks which are costly. We like to suspend them off bottom where most of the year they will remain in about 10-15 feet of water and not too visible to anglers. The lake dropped 10 feet last winter and almost exposed our piles. When visible they sometimes get towed off to unknown spots. I don't know anyone except the government putting out structure made of pipe or stakes, expense not being a large factor, because of the "theft" problem.

Jim