Kishwaukee River Ultralight Fishing - 8/25/2024

When smallmouth fishing on the Kish, I catch a lot of rock bass as by catch. I always toss them back, but I've thought many times about targeting them to see how they taste. For this trip, I stopped at Walmart to pick up an ultralight setup to specifically target rock bass. The rod is a Shakespeare Micro Series 5-foot two-piece. The reel is a Lew's Lite Speed Ultra Lite 75. The reel came with 4-pound test monofilament, so I decided to give that a try, rather than immediately replacing it with Trilene XL. I'm only one trip in with this setup, but I like it a lot.
Edit: All of the fish were delicious. It's been a long time since I had rock bass, and it didn't disappoint. The smallmouth was great, as expected.

[@allys257]

I ended up fishing ultralight on the Kish today after breaking the tip off my medium rod. I had the panfish magnet on there figuring I would target panfish instead and only caught smallies. Biggest was 8-9 inches but it was still a fun morning. Spent a solid 2 plus hours wading south from Blackhawk road. Looks like you had a good time!

[@MikeLinley74]

You were probably fishing some of the same spots that I was. I'm sure you know where I was at. Last week, I went in near the bridge at Blackhawk Road and worked my way upstream. The smallies were all over those rocks on the East side of the river upstream from the bridge. I had a ball for a couple hours.

[@allys257]

@@MikeLinley74 That is always a great stretch to be out on. The Kish never disappoints