Itching to get out and dredge...come on weather!

[jewelerdave]

UGG, I am so frustrated by all this ice and cold weather here in Colorado. I have my 5 inch dredge. I have my site, I have everything ready, I have my spot with virgin ground. The only thing I dont have is water and warmth.

It is bugging the heck out of me as to how much gold could be down there. I happened upon a place when I was in Scouts camping when I was a kid and decided to pan for the heck of it. To my shock in this "non Gold area" nice sized flakes started popping up in the pan. every time I went back I found more and the deeper I got the bigger...problem, with the little 2.5 inch I never got more than a couple feet down. Or was able to get more than a 1/3 gram in day...when i worked on a claim with a 5 inch in a similar area where the gold was similar a quarter ounce a day was not unheard of, and on the bedrock you could pick nuggets right up on occasion.
I have a feeling this place will be similar. I just cant wait to find out. I cant wait to use a 5 inch again. I like that in less than an hour I can move what takes a day with the 2.5

 

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[hipmount]

I hear 'ya, bro .... *sniff snivel sniff* ...... just 4 more months, till breakup.

hip ~

 

[kuger]

Sounds like you have a promising site!!That is how I usually go about my sampling though,first with the 2.5,then move in the 4",and punch some more sample holes with it to find the paystreak path,then once I have the bedrock cleared I sometimes come back in with the 2.5,to get down in the tight cracks.I have air on both and highly recommend it to anyone dredging.Look at the bright side no one else is going to get in there either!!By the way if you havent used a 5 before,it will wear you out!

 

[jewelerdave]

I used a five about 8 years ago and I loved it. But at the time I could not afford one. Yeah it was work and you earned the gold for sure. I have just missed it, I loved seeing all the fish...in fact sometimes they were kind of annoying now that I think of it. But nothing beat that feeling of being able to pick up the occasional nugget of the bedrock and finding something no one has ever touched.
I like the air too. I have noticed a big difference between what the take home is to guys with a 2.5 to those with a 4 or 5 or 6, and the ones with the air always do better. Just more time down there to hunt. I wish I knew that when I bought the 2.5. I would have been taking home fractions of ounces and ounces as opposed to fractions of grams and grams.

Since its been a while, Do you find it better to follow a streak or to just do as much volume as possible? This place I have the gold is patchy. at Least with the 2.5, but the 5 should be able to move in 20 min what takes a day with the 2.5.
I have always done better when I find that red sand layer but its not always there! LOL. I cant win.

I guess I will find out. I am just surprised that the area I am working has no history of gold production. No history of finds in the area etc. I have checked local libraries and talked to many for years and have found no mention of placer workings. I just dont see how they could have missed that. there are no gold mines in the area either. Maybe I just got lucky with a couple pockets. I would think someone sometime would have developed it to some degree...or can entire valleys be over looked and un-hunted for the last 150 years?

Anyway, the first pic is a pic of the gold pulled from 1 cubic yard from this location.
Should I go for it as this is what I got with a 2.5

next pics are what I found useing a 5 inch 8 years ago. As well as what I have found going back with a 2.5 in the same amount of time. This is why I am so exited to have a 5 inch again to work with!

 

[kuger]

That is good gold!!The 5 is an awesome peice of equipt,and for every inch you move twice the material,so ya your looking at moving 3 x the gravel!I use the 4 because I dredge alone(its all I can manuever alone)and I dredge some pretty desolate locations its lighter once taken down.If you find a paystreak or what you think is drop back and start at the tail as not to dump tailings on it,then follow it up the gold should get bigger as you get closer to the head.All a paystreak really is,is the path most gold follows as it travels down a stream,which the majority of all gold will follow the same path.You can get in over your head so to speak trying to just clean up the whole bottom,I do try to clean up a paying area as good as possible in the streams but in a river it is often impossible as the sheer area your dealing with.That red sand you are finding is probably high in iron and is heavy like the gold and it is following the same general path,kind of like black sand.Here I have a certain color clay I keepan eye out for that is always rich!!You are very fortunate to find a virgin site,I dont have that luxery,very often(I have found them but they are few) as I live in Gold Rush Country and not many a stone was left unturned......but what we consider rich now was often left for richer ground back then!Good luck!!

 

[russau]

nice gold for either dredge!

 

[Hoser John]

Never saw a nugget I didn't like. Ifn' ya like a 5"--ya oughta try a 10"-the world disappears right before your eyes in a instant-Tons a au 2 u 2-John

 

[bigfish31]

I'll be dredging in a week or two, if I'm lucky.

 

[bigfish31]

Never saw a nugget I didn't like. Ifn' ya like a 5"--ya oughta try a 10"-the world disappears right before your eyes in a instant-Tons a au 2 u 2-John

I agree! I have only used a 6 in. and that was a handfull. When you plug that bigboy, it's a chore. It would sucks your gloves right off.