I build lots of honey holes as you call them. Here fish do leave if they are overfished. Usually in a livewell , in a cooler or on a stringer.

An area usually only holds so many fish for a certain length of time. They don't always replenish quickly.
As far as brush willows are good .but I also use Persimmon. My favorite method is to build stakebeda that last longer from Cedar or hardwood boards. This is extra good for kids as verticle boards used in stakebeds reduce hangups. Also short (2' tall stakes) are harder to pick up unless you have a high dollar sonar or are real good at reading your depthfinder. We use depthfinders and GPS to locate ours. If they can be hidden ,you will generally catch more slabs than than fishing ones that always get hammered.
