Where would you work a place like this?

[Swartzie]

I'm totally new to panning. We did find a flake recently, however the river is an hour and a half drive so I'm looking for something closer. At least I know there is gold in Ohio. In the river where the flake was found we were sucking cracks in the bedrock. The rivers near me don't have exposed bedrock like that. But, there are several places with large rocks that create the riffle effect in the water. So looking at the attached photos where would you start to work a place like this? Upstream, downstream, or right in the rocks? Both upstream and downstream are calm and downstream kind of meanders a bit around a bend.

Thanks for any input
-Swartzie

[Gramps43]

Swartzie,

you didn't show what the shore line looks like, in most cases you work the shore or you use a hand suction device to work around rocks on the inside of a curve in the river. By the looks of those pics you're going to have to wait till that water goes down to about half that flow. JMO

Gramps

[Swartzie]

Swartzie,

you didn't show what the shore line looks like, in most cases you work the shore or you use a hand suction device to work around rocks on the inside of a curve in the river. By the looks of those pics you're going to have to wait till that water goes down to about half that flow. JMO

Gramps

Yeah, we just got an inch of rain the day I took the pictures. So the water was up a bit.
The banks are pretty much mud. But, there is one area near the shore where there is a build up of material. This area did seem to give me more black sand than places I worked in the rocks. Maybe I'll concentrate on that.

-Swatzie

[63bkpkr]

Swartzie,
Go to Google
Google "how to understand a river for prospecting, or maybe "how to prospect a river", or "how to read a river for prospecting", or "how to read a river for panning" or something like these suggestions. What you are looking for is a How To on reading and panning a river done my a fellow in Oregon. It is a very nice piece of work that he published for all to enjoy.

Good Luck, 63bkpkr

[ivan salis]

large sized rocks often have "dead - non current spots" behind them --known as "slack spots" fish in streams often lay there waiting for food passing by in the current , then dart out and grab it --gold often settles in these dead spots as well -- wait till you get a slower current -low water conditions and scope em out --inside cuts with blocked areas can be highly productive as well.

[ArizonaGoldFever]

Look for the largest immovable object in the river then dredge or dig around it. Works for me

[Hoser John]

Panning is the slowest least productive of all mining methods and in fact is for sampling normally only or cleanups on bigger equipment. Go for solid bedrock whenever possible as them cracks and crevices are natures sluicebox and 90% of the hard work is already done for ya. Scrape,dig,gouge and blast whatever to mt them---John