Spring Exploring

Working up here in the mountains all winter sure has had me curious about the area around us and the more it all melts, the more I wonder what lies out in those areas I have never been to, but now see everyday. It reminds me of one of my favorite times of the year, spring. And spring is a wonderful time to get out and go exploring for new spots. The goal when exploring in the spring is to ultimatley find more spots that you can spend more time at in the future, like the summer.
I do however take a rod with me when I explore and the idea for me is to 'just see what's out there'. I like to throw on a general attractor nymph or dry, or even a specific pattern that you just know is common for the season, and just see what happens. Often, you can entice a strike, but not a bite. This is not a complete loss though, as this tells you that you are in a fertile spot indeed. Sometimes I will move on to the next stream when this happens, because I am only exploring, and sometimes I will fish it out. Often, the fishing can be slow (or non-existent). And if so, were just exploring anyways. But other times you find that you don't need much time to receive the benefits of a new location. And if the fishing is on, it's usually a pleasant surprise.  Such was the case yesterday.
We had a crazy storm come through; rain, hail, wind and even enough lightning to shut the mountain down for a little bit. Definitely a typical top of the rockies spring storm. A little bit of everything. So my plans for afternoon fishing were done, I thought. With the weather the way it was, I decided exploring was the way to go.
So faced with an early afternoon off from work, I set off down the hill and instead of going straight home, I turned west at the bottom of the hill and followed the middle branch of the Boulder Creek up towards Hessie. Not but a mile or two up was a bridge with a great drop in spot. I had to wait for the storm to pass, especially the lightning and rain.
I geared up and having not much time to spare, I left the waders in the truck and fished the shore. There was plenty of pockets and really only about 1 or 2 big holes in the stretch I fished. I was throwing a PT and Z combo; a killer in the spring time in just about any creek in Colorado.
After about an hour or so of fishing and moving up stream very slowly, making sure to work all the pockets to the max, I got a strike. I set the hook and out of habit used enough force to lift the little guy out of the water about a foot. I got the line over and discovered it to be my first brookie of the year. A pleasant surprise indeed. I had been fishing lower on the creek looking for a brookie, but I suppose with the early high temps and melt off that they have already made their way up to cooler waters.
I headed down the hill with a huge smile on my face. The first brookie marks a whole new season for me. The high altitude season when brookies and cutthroats dominate the catch list. My favorite season for sure.

An afternote: I went to the same spot the next day and the weather was great. I had more time and so I put on the waders. Spent probably double the time fishing and got exactly 0 bites. It goes to show that sometimes spring exploring is just that. Exploring. Don't always get hooked into one spot. The weather changes quickly in the spring and so does a fish's diet habits. Perhaps I would have been better off going further upstream and 'exploring' for even another spot. One can never say.

Tip of the day: Just get out there! Sometimes it only takes a few minutes to stop somewhere and throw your line in. You don't always need waders, but you do need creativity in where and what you fish.
Find a spot. Tie it on and throw it in. See what happens. Repeat.

Enjoy your spring exploring and hopefully it becomes summer catching.