i liken this forum more to a shipping crate than a box.
gee-dub, i miss yer old name, and i for one hope you dont go away for lack of enthusiasm, but if you decrease yer activity here, i respectfully request that you provide an annual report to the GSA entitled "the causes and affects of warmouth as a top pond predator". you sir are ripping the envelope and the GSA is watching.
speaking to the question of how trout relate to cover (assuming a still water body w/ no current). i'm not sure what conclusions you can draw comparing trout behavior in large lakes to small ponds, but from experiences on our local reserviors, overall trout distribution is mostly controlled by the temperature profiles and movement of baitschools. in the summer they go deep (i.e. up to 200 feet!) and i usually see them (on fish finder) congregate in the submerged stream channels. in late fall, winter, and early spring, they tend to school up and can be found anywhere in open water, plus they move up and down (surface to ~30 feet) depending on time of day or night and lunar cycle. exceptions are those i have found (usually in morning or late evening) feeding along relatively flat shallows and relating to large submerged boulders or tree stumps (just like bass). so i think if you put structure in (assuming good temps and DO levels at the depths of the structure), the structure will attract both forage and trout.
