Senior ACT Parks and Conservation officer Chris Troth was fishing on his day off when he noticed some illegal fishing nets submerged in water on Lake Burley Griffin.
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When Mr Troth went for a closer look he saw two native water rats trapped inside.
"I immediately pulled the trap from the water with the hope they may be alive," Mr Troth said.
"The two native water rats, which I believe to be a breeding pair, had drowned due to not being able to swim back and get air."
Mr Troth said the trap contained chicken hearts used as bait. The incident, which happened last year, was an example of an illegal opera house net being used in ACT waters.
Opera house nets are enclosed nets and are illegal in the ACT and Victorian public waterways.
On Thursday, the ACT government and National Capital Authority, with the Canberra Fisherman's club, announced a blitz on illegal fishing.
Canberrans are being urged to report sightings of illegal opera house style fishing nets.
Craig Jones, of the parks and conservation service, said illegal fishing was a problem in Canberra. He said the use of an opera house net was destructive to native wildlife and could kill platypus, water rats, and turtles, which could become stuck in the nets.
"People put food in there to attract fish and yabbies, but turtles and other animals will get in there as well," Mr Jones said.
"But they're air-breathing animals like us, so when they can't get out, they'll die in those traps and it's a pretty horrible death."
Mr Jones said two platypuses had been found in an enclosed net at Point Hut late last year. He said heavy fines applied to anyone caught illegally fishing.
The blitz coincides with the closure of the ACT trout fishing season, which ends on Monday, June 11. Rainbow and brown trout caught in ACT waters must be released unharmed while the restrictions remain until October.
Mr Troth said the blitz would ensure trout were protected during their winter spawning season and would help protect Canberra's freshwater ecosystem. In his almost 11 years working on Canberra's waterways, he said he had seen a drop of incidences like the two water rats.
"It's disappointing to see that type of thing happening around the lakes because we do have a lot of pro-active fishermen that are very vigilant when it comes to fishing around Canberra so when they do see illegal activity they call officers and they do the right thing but we just have that small percentage of people in the ACT that just don't like to adhere to our rules," Mr Troth said.
"The drop from previous years is due to the education we do around Canberra, with the pamphlets that we put out. They come in different languages as well which helps those people that come from different parts of the world."
More than 1.5 million fish have been introduced to Canberra's lakes and ponds, including a fish stocking program that began in the mid-1990s.
Anyone caught fishing trout during the closed season can be issued with an on-the-spot-fine of $250 with the maximum penalty of up to $5500.
Keen fishers are urged to visit www.environment.act.gov.au for more information.
