Hey ShortCut, don't want you to think I'm following you around here! :-))
My GSH I see ONLY near my cedar brush piles..I see them nowhere else in my case. I have confirmed recruitment this summer but the adults are always right near the cedar piles. Is that where they spawned?? I cannot confirm that. I do know that Anderson minnow farm told me cedar trees were the best thing to use but they also told me they use special spawning matts that are like artificial grass. Probably because their ponds are devoid of anything else, structure wise so it's easy to collect the matts for rinse into hatchers.
And Roundy, true pines-the needles-are a super high source of unwanted organic matter that takes forever to decompose and can add to low water quality issues, if you have cedar I'd use that first.