An important part of that transaction, for fly fishermen in particular, was the inclusion of the land surrounding that wonderful spring creek where Ernest Hemingway had shot ducks 25 years earlier. In 1975, Janss, too, was ready to move on to other endeavors, and he began looking around for someone to buy him out, including the priceless Silver Creek parcel. Jack Hemingway sensed that here was an opportunity to secure the future of a precious ecological resource, and he quickly organized a group to contact the Nature Conservancy. That was only the beginning of great things to come. Fly fishermen, conservationists, bird lovers, and all naturalists near and far were assured that Silver Creek was forever protected from threats of development and misuse.
Silver Creek is extremely rich with mineral nutrients so essential to lush acquatic vegetation.
As is common among spring creeks, with the profuse vegetation come the dense hordes of mayflies, caddis and stoneflies. During every month of the calendar, there will be bugs of some variety hatching and feeding the resident trout. Therefore the water temperatures and levels are quite constant when compared to typical freestone rivers. This consistency of conditions results in nutrient-rich alkaline cold springs providing ideal trout water, rich and cool and constant. Several smaller feeder creeks with clean, gravel stream bottoms are the nurseries for Silver Creek.