Keith king carp catcher

By Gus Underwood

Aug 15, 2022

King of carp: Keith Bell has been responsible for removing fish from Greens Lake at Corop, a 40-day project that has seen — among others — 46 large cod removed from the lake.

Professional carp catcher Keith Bell is back removing more native fish from doomed Green’s Lake at Corop.

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In about 40 days dragging the lake so far Keith has relocated 46 large cod and 450 yellowbelly up to 6.5kg in weight.

Keith said the largest cod measured 1.11 metres in length and most of them were more than a metre long.

Strangely redfin have not been plentiful in the project.

Most of the cod have been transferred to the Arcadia fish hatchery or the Goulburn River while the captured yellowbelly have all been released into the Waranga Basin.

But the Campaspe River at Elmore is also expected to be one of the release sites for cod in the latest operation.

Keith has also pulled 36,000kg of European Carp from the lake.

He is conducting the relocation in conjunction with Goulburn Murray Water and said there had been some difficulties in netting the fish because of some submerged fence lines left when irrigation water was originally released into the former GM Water holding, which has been decommissioned.

Keith said it was vital native fish still in the waterway be caught and relocated in the cooler weather to prevent a fish kill in the approaching warmer months.

He expects to spend this month at the lake as well.

By Gus Underwood

Sports reporter