The systematic management of reservoir ecological flow is an important measure to ensure the ecological water demand of rivers and lakes and promote their ecological environment recovery. In this paper, the important significance of ecological flow management was described, that is vital for implementing ecological civilization construction and promoting high-quality water conservancy development. Taking typical reservoirs in northern Hubei Province as the research object, the management measures such as discharging, monitoring, regulation and regime were sorted out, and the main problems of ecological flow management were analyzed. Combined with regional characteristics and engineering practice, the optimization design requirements and contents of ecological flow management were proposed. The research results could provide important reference for reservoir ecological flow management.