how many of you find that your brushpiles are not so private anymore?  how long did it take before you noticed others using it?  do you think people are finding them on there own or witnessed you catching fish on it?

Both! I use my depth finder to search for brush. Even if I am fishing that area and accidently come across a brush pile, I will make a note of it and fish there. And if I notice you catching fish in a spot, I will check it out sometime after you are gone.

Out of curiousity, how big is your nest and where did you place it?

  That is what GPS's are for.  To help hide your brushpiles and help mark all of the rest that you find.

With all the angling pressure and high tech electronics, I'd say there aren't many (secret) brushpiles for long.

I've downsized my brush piles to no more than could fit in a pickup bed. All of them get dragged to new locations occasionally in winter, marking locations with GPS, adding new ones once Christmas trees are out on the curbs. I mostly fish them at night, but if I think someone is catching on by seeing me over it I put the trolling motor on and fish my way out away from it. Nobody has figured that out and won't even though often writing about the ploy.

Jim

Mine are so popular, bass are on them all the time.     My brush piles get 5 star ratings from the bass them selves.

Hookem

I don't have too much trouble with bass fisherman .....Crappie fisherman hit them regurlarly , and it does get old when u run several miles to fish a pile and a boat is settin on top of it ...

We just have to remember when a pile hits the water it becomes public property .....

If you build them out PVC pipe a depth finder don't pick then up good.  Gander Mt sell a kit to make a PVC brushpile.

You got that right, Bud! I spend a couple hundred dollars building those, sunk them, then tried relocating on sonar. They do show on sonar, but appear like any other piece of cover, so the only way to know is to hook it with an anchor and bring it up. From that I learned to set a 10 count waypoint before dropping it. Another thng that won't show up right is a spawning board, especially once bare wood is covered with silt. It'll look like any other linear object. It would take a side scan 3-D sonar to pick those out accurately.  

Jim