On the evening after a warm day, Buntzen’s trout come up and start rising close to the surface. By day they are down in a lake that falls away almost as soon as it leaves the shore. It fills through a tunnel bored under Eagle Mountain from Coquitlam Lake, and it drains out of its north end, down to the powerhouses on Indian Arm.
It is a long, narrow reservoir in the hills above Anmore, and it has three parts worth knowing. The south end has the beaches, the boat launch, the dock and the parking. The two long shores run north from there, steep and rocky, with a trail around the whole lake. The north end is the far beach, the old drowned stumps and the hydro works.
Start at the south end if you have a float tube or a canoe. The launch at South Beach takes small boats, and a boat is the best way to fish here, because it lets you follow the drop-off to wherever the fish are. The dock and the floating bridge across the south arm, when it is open, are the shore angler’s way in, though on a summer weekend they belong to swimmers.
The long shores are where a fly fisher earns the lake. There is very little shallow water anywhere; the bottom plunges to deep water within a short distance of the bank, and the trout cruise that edge. Walk the trail until you find a rock you can cast from with room behind you.
The north end is the one most people never reach. It’s a long walk or a long paddle, and below the surface there are stumps from before the lake was raised, the kind of cover a cutthroat likes.
Once the south end makes sense, take an evening out to the north end, where the stumps are and the beach crowd isn’t.
Fish in this water
Each fish is rated by its strongest evidence. A rating says how sure we are a fish is here, not how many there are, whether it is worth fishing for or whether you may keep it.
Likely
Older records here, recent stocking, a local guide or fly shop, a guide listing, or recent records on connected water nearby.
Buntzen is deep and cold, and almost all of its shoreline drops off steeply, so the little shoal water it has matters. Trout feed along the line where the shelf breaks, and that edge is where your fly should spend its time.
Fish and forage
Small kokanee show up in summer, and northern pikeminnow and other coarse fish are plentiful then. Chironomids are the spring food, which is why a chironomid pattern is the first fly to try; a small leech is the standby from a boat.
When to fish it
Spring and fall are the trout seasons. In summer most of what bites near the surface is coarse fish, and the trout are down deep; fish early or late, or fish deeper.
How to fish it
Fish one fly at a time. In spring, hang a chironomid pupa under an indicator off the edge of the drop, set just above where the bottom falls away, and wait. If nothing takes after a fair while, take off the indicator, change to a small dark leech on a sinking line, and strip it slowly back up the slope. From a boat, troll or strip that leech along the break; when you find a school of feeding fish, stop and cast to them. In the evening rise, put up a small dry or an emerger, and if the fish keep refusing it, go back to the chironomid just under the film.
Access and safety
The lake sits in a recreation area run by BC Hydro, reached from Port Moody through Anmore along Sunnyside Road; the parking lots are about two kilometres past the entrance gate. The gate opens in the morning and closes earlier in winter than in summer, and you need to be off the water before closing. In summer, check whether a free parking pass needs booking ahead; when the lots fill, the gate shuts to cars, and there is no parking in Anmore. Gas motors are banned; small battery-powered electric motors are allowed. The water is cold enough to kill, and both beaches have sudden drop-offs. Remote-controlled hydro operations can throw up sudden currents near the intakes and the outfall of the Coquitlam tunnel, so stay well away from both. Cell coverage is poor.
Regulations
Buntzen has no listing of its own in the regulations, so the regional and provincial rules apply. You may keep 4 trout and char a day, with no more than 1 over 50 cm and only 1 char (bull trout or Dolly Varden), none under 60 cm; there is no general minimum size for trout in lakes. The kokanee quota is 5. Possession is two daily quotas. Your licence allows one line with one fly on it. Check in-season changes before you go.