Manilla Fish Hatchery's Ian Ward warns Lake Keepit fish populations will take time to recover after drought despite great breeding conditions

Manilla Fish Hatchery manager Ian Ward told ACM visitors to the dam needed to be 'reel-istic' about how successful a fishing trip may be, even after the rain.

"Once upon a time you you could go out there and in half-an-hour you'd get half-a-dozen fish," he said.

"Now you could go out there and not catch a single fish."

Mr Ward said the fish that are in the river system after the drought of the past few years are mostly not mature enough yet to naturally breed.

In good conditions, Mr Ward said one female fish could carry lay up to 200,000 eggs.

"The only fish that have come back into the system in the last few years are the fish that have been put in by the Department of Primary Industries and the ones that we put in," he said.

"And none of those fish are probably big enough yet to breed within their own right."

He said he feared the fishing at both Split Rock Dam and Lake Keepit were "basically zero", in his opinion.

People are still making the trip out to the dams and having a good go, and Mr Ward said things have improved since the drought times when fish populations were decimated.

"The dams were completely drained," he said.

At the height of the drought, the bottom of Lake Keepit was cracked dirt at less than one per cent full in 2019 and early 2020, while the much larger Split Rock Dam was also reduced to almost dry.

"The fish kills at that time was outlandish, it should never have happened," Mr Ward said.

"The result of that was all of the breeding fish ceased to exist."

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According to Mr Ward, it's only once they have replenished the fish populations to the point they can spawn naturally that fishers will again be able to reliably reel in a catch.

He said it's important that the fish currently in the system are protected until the population is well established.

"The cod season is in fact happening now," he said.

"That's why [Keepit Dam] is closed until the 1^st of December," he said.

Under normal circumstances the fish in Keepit would reach the legal length after 18 months of growth.

After this time people will be able to fish again, according to Mr Ward.

"The fish probably have to be two years old before they can breed," he said.

In the meantime he said the Manilla Fish Hatchery is doing what it can to provide an insurance population of golden perch, to ensure the health of the fish population.

"We're starting our operations now, cleaning up and tidying, getting our equipment ready," he said.

"About the middle of December we will inject our fish [fertilise them] with the idea of releasing probably in the middle of February."

He said a spawning event is needed before releasing the fish.

"If we get a spawning event we'll then put them in a plankton pond for about eight weeks," he said.

But, it's a race against time for the hatchery, with its fish already three-to-four years old.

Mr Ward said he was legally obliged to release the fish after five years whether or not they spawn this season.

The other challenge facing the hatchery is the disproportionately large population of cod.

According to Mr Ward the cod make a meal of most other fish.

"They'd be gouging into those other species ... they'll eat anything," he said.

"I think there's far too many cod around compared to other species."

If the breeding goes well and the climate plays ball, Mr Ward said the fish population should recover.

"But in my view, it's going to be a long long time before we reach the peak of how you could catch a fish 10 to 12 years ago," he said.

Split Rock Dam and Lake Keepit were both more than 90 per cent full at the latest update.

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