February Fishing Report

I've been asked "What do the fish do during the winter?" Well, it's a great question. Most of the fish in Spring Creek, Cody Creek, and Blue Crane Creek are the native Fine Spotted Cutthroat Trout. The vast majority of these fish winter in the main stem of the Snake River. Usually in late October most of the fish leave our spring creeks and migrate back to the Snake River where they spend the winter in the big deep pools found throughout the river near Jackson. Cutthroat Trout are late spring / early summer spawners, so the first fish to migrate back into our spring creeks show up in April and May, but the majority of the fish take up residence in early to mid June. Since the native cutthroats prefer to spawn in the smaller spring creek tributaries of the Snake River, such as those found here at 3 Creek Ranch, it is critical that these creeks provide the proper spawning habitat. Over the past couple of winters we have completed several stream enhancement projects. These projects have improved and increased holding water, but have also improved and increased the spawning habitat on all three creeks. Each year the Department of Fish and Game comes out and counts "redds," or what some call spawning beds or nests. The completion of this work has dramatically increased the redd counts. We are very excited about these results. One of the primary goals of the fishing program is to increase spawning habitat. We will continue to work on this goal wherever possible in the years to come.

Jim Brungardt
Fishing Coordinator
3 Creek Ranch
307-733-2111
jbrungardt@3creekranch-jh.com