Catscratch,
You already have brush at the dock ... +1.
I really like your idea of doing brush on the dam.
There was a municipal lake I used to fish extensively for crappie. In the dead of winter the best place to fish was near the dam. There was a concrete structure that rose a little further distant than the base of the riprap of the dam. It housed the valves that supplied the water treatment facility. Really not much structure to it. It was probably 8 or 10 feet in diameter and rose above the surface of the water. Anyways, in winter, crappie seem to love vertical structure that covers all the possibilities of preferred depth (whatever it may be at the moment). FWIW, we typically found the crappie deeper when sunny and shallower when overcast or near sunset. In winter, they don't seem to go out foraging as much and will hold on structure for longer periods of time. From the middle of December to late February we tended to find crappie concentrated there.
Sooo ... on your dam ... I do like the idea of a string of brush going from say 6' deep to the deepest portion of your lake. Just for crappie, I would probably put all the brush in a column on the dam and spruce up your dock pile. For LMB, I would want brush spread around. You bow is a good size, but crappie love to share structure and don't seem to be territorial. Plus they move a lot when foraging. Its not to large that crappie don't see all of it. Personally, I wouldn't want to give them very many choices to align with structure and I would lean toward making two locations extra special. If you do that, when they are not out on foraging trips, you will know exactly where they are and they will be more concentrated.
There may be a difference between BCP and WCP with regard to structure orientation and foraging behavior. FWIW, my experience is 95% WCP.
