Fishing spot / Good bar spots: focus on emerging rocks and foam

Even if they sometimes make fishing particularly technical in terms of line control, wind and swell are allies of choice for bass anglers. In this context, emerging rocks where foam forms usually hold active fish just waiting for your lures.

Thierry Cendrier Published on November 18, 2024

How to identify them?

Emerging rock heads are the most easily identifiable spots for bass anglers, as they are visible to the naked eye. While some rocks are uncovered during the entire tide, others emerge at high tide and appear slowly during the ebb.

To identify them, simply observe the surface of the water to locate the most visible, as well as eddies and current deviations, and the white patches of foam that form with swell and waves.

Why?

Emergent rocks are interesting for two reasons; the first being that they function exactly like submerged rock heads, channeling the current and providing a resting area and lookout post for bass.

The second reason is that when they are combined with swell, they create a zone of backwash and agitation materialized by foam, where numerous organisms are torn from the substrate and put into suspension. These organisms are of interest to small fish, which are also tossed about by the current, making them easy prey for predators, particularly sea bass.

Which ones to fish for?

The most interesting emerging rock heads to fish are those swept by a strong current when fishing conditions are calm, and those subject to swell and waves when the ocean is more agitated and fishing conditions more muscular.

While the former can be productive in a large number of situations, the latter will only be so from time to time, depending on weather conditions, particularly wind strength and direction.

How do you approach them?

Because of the underwater relief and shallow or non-existent depths around emerging rock heads, especially in rough seas, it's difficult and risky to get close to these spots. You should therefore opt for positions as far apart as possible, but still allowing you to reach the strategic zones, i.e. the foam or calm behind the rock.

With this in mind, it is important to choose lures with an aerodynamic profile.

On this type of spot, sea bass can be found upstream of the rock on the sides of the current and in the calm zone downstream. If the swell is large and the white zone extensive, it's possible to find them a long way downstream at the edge of the foam and clearer water.

What techniques, what lures?

On this type of spot, which is often shallow and uneven, surface fishing or fishing in open water should be preferred. Topwaters are naturally excellent, but minnows and longbill minnows are superior when they refuse to rise or when fishing conditions make it difficult for stickbaits and poppers to swim.

Vibratory feeders are also very effective, as they are easy to locate thanks to their strong vibrations.

Of course, soft lures will also enable you to fish this type of spot.

All colors can be used on emerging rock heads, but when they're battered by swell and wind and you need to fish the foam, white lures are often far superior to the others!