My first trip to Armstrong. Arrived at 5:30AM, inflated pontoon boat, set up my poles, loaded the boat and was on the water by 6:00AM. Water temp. at 10' was 64 degrees. Steady, light rain falling for first hour and a half. About 6:30, C&R first fish on a black/sparkle Beadhead Wooly Bugger, on the west side of the lake. About a 12" beautifully colored and hard fighting Rainbow. Figured to be a great day!...Wrong,..., for me! Lots of fish rising on a very flat lake. Cast several dries, but they weren't interested in my offerings. Trolled 6-8 favorite flies, none drew a hit. About 9:00AM another boat hit the water, then two float tubes... a bit later, another boat and then a pontoon boat. That was all the company I had. Boat fishermen were trolling with bait (worms?). They were having some success. I watched the tubers catch a couple trout, they were using Carey Specials, casting in toward the shore, over cover (lots of snags and logs in the lake). About 11:00, I quit trolling and cast a Damsel Fly nymph along the shoreline... had two subtle hits, but nothing to show for that either. Out of desperation, trolled a couple Flatfish patterns, then a couple Rapalas... nothing. About 1:00, the skies opened up and it began to rain, seriously. I got to the launch about 2:00, just as the fellow in the other pontoon boat arrived. He was a longtime Armstrong fisher... said that he generally had great luck in the lake on chironomids, but the fish weren't interested today. He did catch several fish on a big, black Dragonfly nymph, trolled very fast. Why of course!! A big, heavy, bottom dwelling, slow moving nymph, trolled on the top at mach speed... why didn't I think of that!!?? With the warm temperatures in the lake and at the surface, I had figured that "slower" would be the ticket. Come to think of it, I did think to myself that the bait trollers were moving really fast... I'll file that one away!
I rated the trip a 3, not because I caught fish, but because others obviously were. There are some great fish in the lake, judging by the fish I saw rising and swirling on top. A wonderful lake with lots of natural cover. It'll be on my short list of lakes to return to another day! Learned a lot this time out! Tight lines all!

Great day at Armstrong. Got out at about 6 am. Hooked into a couple small rainbows and a small LMB right away on the west side of the lake. Nothing after about 30 minutes on the east side, so I went and anchored up on the log near the north end (lots of grass and a trail on it). Bottom fishing chartreuse powerbait was working well. Got four or five rainbows over there, with the largest being 12 and 15 inches. The 15" was a fat one too. By buddy hooked into that one right when he showed up. I think the line was in the water for less than a minute.

Pretty slow day. Started the day on the west side of the lake at around 4:30 or so. Going for bass with plastics and cranks. Not action at all. Switched over to the east side for some bottom fishing. Managed to get a few bites on orange powerbait, and one 10"-11" rainbow coming in on what I think was chartreuse. I'll probably give it enough go this weekend.

The launch is pretty rough. It works fine, but its hammered.

Took my 8-year old out in our float tubes for the first real fishing trip. Only stayed for a couple of hrs, she caught one and paddled around with her keeping her out of any trouble. Overall, didn't seem like people were catching much. Saw a fellow at the ramp in a tube that had a limit on spinning gear, spotted a few fish rising, but overall it seemed slow. The Sunday reports seemed to confirm that.

5pm. very calm day. fishing many depths for bass. hooked a couple 9 inchers. threw a little deeper when it felt like i hooked a flat piece of wood on the way it was dead wieighted. got close to boat and it was a rainbow trout. measured it at 16 inches. nice big meaty healthy fish. kept fishing for bass and managed to pull a few more in. put my worm by a floating dock when i hooked another rainbow, 13 incher and fat! good day fishin especially when you haul in a couple trouts on 4" plastic worms.