Armstrong Lake Fishing guide

The overall gillnet catch rate for all fish combined was 15.8 fish/net which was the lowest catch rate on record for the lake. Yield was 24.5 lbs/net which was the second lowest of past surveys on the lake. Fish species sampled were walleye, northern pike, yellow perch, bluegill, largemouth bass, white sucker, black crappie, rock bass, smallmouth bass, and pumpkinseed. Trap nets caught fish at an overall rate of 21.4 fish/net which was the second lowest on record for the lake. Yield was 6.1 lbs/net which was average compared to past catches on the lake. The catch was dominated by bluegill with no additional species sampled in trap nets that weren't also sampled in gill nets.

Forty walleye were sampled in gill nets for a catch rate of 4.4 fish/net, which was just below average compared to other similar lakes but the highest catch rate since the 1997 survey. Walleye lengths ranged from 10 to over 26 inches with an average of nearly 19 inches. The average weight was impressive at over 2 pounds which was better than most other similar lakes in the state. Walleye growth was good with the average fish measuring 16 inches at four years old. Ages ranged from 2 to 9 years with the 2016 year class representing 55% of the total catch. When stocked years were compared against non-stocked years, 32 of the 38 aged fish (84%) came from a year class where stocking occurred.

The northern pike gillnet catch was 3.3 fish/net which was the lowest since the 1987 survey but just above average compared to other similar lakes. Lengths ranged from 16 to 34.5 inches with an average over 21 inches. Sizes were on par with previous surveys.

Spring night electrofishing was used for the second time on Armstrong for bass sampling. On the night of June 2nd, three electrofishing stations were sampled with each station being fished for 30 minutes. One-hundred fifty total bass were captured in 1.5 hours of on-time for a total catch rate of 100.0 fish/hour.

Eight smallmouth were captured in the 1.5 hours of fishing for a catch rate of 5.3 fish/hour. This was below average compared to other area smallmouth lakes. Lengths ranged from 4 to nearly 17 inches with an average of 10 inches. Growth rates appeared relatively slow compared to other area smallmouth populations.

One-hundred forty-two largemouth bass were captured during electrofishing for a catch rate of 94.7 fish/hour. This ranked 5th out of 29 recent electrofishing surveys on area largemouth lakes. Fifteen additional largemouth were captured in gill nets (1.7 fish/net) and 17 were also caught in trap nets (1.9 fish/net). Both of these catch rates were very good when compared to other similar largemouth lakes. The widest range of sizes came from the elctrofishing sample with a range from 6 to 17 inches and an average of 12 inches. Like the smallmouth, growth rates appeared relatively slow compared to other area largemouth populations.

The bluegill trapnet catch was 16.7 fish/net which was above average compared to other similar lakes but below average compared to past surveys on Armstrong Lake. Sizes ranged from 3 to over 8 inches with an average of 5 inches. Ages ranged from 3 to 11 years with strong representation (over 48% of the total catch) coming from the 2016 year class. Growth was quite slow with the average fish taking 8 years to reach 6 inches long.

Nineteen yellow perch were sampled in gill nets for a catch rate of 2.1 fish/net which was below average compared to other similar lakes and below average for Armstrong Lake. Sizes were small but similar to past surveys with a maximum size of 7 inches and an average of 6 inches.