TN Nor Cal day in the river

[norcalsteve]

I hope i am not offending anyone by starting this thread.
I am just started gold prospecting last year with my son. Man, did i catch a fever.
I have only been out panning 4 times. The places i have been are Bear River, Mineral Bar, Yankees Jim and Roaring Camp.
I now have a BGT and a Gold-N-Sand hand dredge that i can't wait to try out.
I would love to meet up with the people here on TN.
If one of these places would work for a Saturday group outing or if someone else knows of a good place please yell out ( no hot spots or personal spots are expected ) just a good open public spot.
Lets figure out if Jan 25th or Feb 8th works out for most , including the Bazooka crew.
Steve

 

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[ALewis]

Hey Norcal, Sounds like fun...I'm kind of doin the same, Just got started prospectin in 2013....Have been around similar spots, currently stick to mineral bar area, or Yankee Jim's. Just due to my limited success in those spots. Although I am willing to travel !

I'd be down to meet up, I try get out for any reason. Either 25th or 8th would be good, if not both. Would be fun to meet up w/ some other TNet members, see what I need to improve. The TNet weekend sounds fun, but April is long ways away....

I'll be back at it this weeekend, got about .6/.7 g on Sat, and that was w/ a 2 Hr lunch break waiting for the rain to let up. Trying to figure out how to up that to 1.5 a day,

 

[norcalsteve]

Alewis, the 25th sounds good to me. Haven't heard of anyone else interseted so i don't think just you and me is enought to entice the bazooka crew. Hopefully more people will chime in on this. I have heard about a few other places like Dave Moore, Cronan Ranch and Greenwood Creek but i do not know anything about them ( like if they are hands and pans or if sluices are aloud ) i'll do some more checking. If not I'm ok with mineral bar or yankees Jim.

 

[norcalsteve]

Forgot to add CONGRATS I would love to see .6/.7 gr for a day. Hopefully with my new BGT that won't be so far fetched.

 

[goldenmojo]

Alewis, the 25th sounds good to me. Haven't heard of anyone else interseted so i don't think just you and me is enought to entice the bazooka crew. Hopefully more people will chime in on this. I have heard about a few other places like Dave Moore, Cronan Ranch and Greenwood Creek but i do not know anything about them ( like if they are hands and pans or if sluices are aloud ) i'll do some more checking. If not I'm ok with mineral bar or yankees Jim.

Norcal and ALewis I do not have a sluice but I am thinking of getting a bazooka or some sort of sluice soon so would enjoy checking out how you run your sluices and as the NF is usually where I go I would like to join you for a day on the river. I will be panning only and will help you shoveling some material for a hands on lesson in sluicing. Mineral bar seemed to produce for you....

Goldenmojo

 

[norcalsteve]

Norcal and ALewis I do not have a sluice but I am thinking of getting a bazooka or some sort of sluice soon so would enjoy checking out how you run your sluices and as the NF is usually where I go I would like to join you for a day on the river. I will be panning only and will help you shoveling some material for a hands on lesson in sluicing. Mineral bar seemed to produce for you....

Goldenmojo

Goldenmojo, glad to have you join us. This will be my first time using my Bazooka. Acually this will be my first time using a sluice of any kind.
Hopefully a little beginners luck will be on our side. Where have you been panning? Lets give this the rest of the week to see who else might join us and if we can get a few more maybe it will be enough for Bazooka to join us. By the end of the week we will pick a time and a spot to meet. Really looking forward to this.

 

[goldenmojo]

Norcalsteve I usually pan at Yankee Jim's both above and below the bridge and that has been most good to me in my very short panning career (almost 4 months). I have tried Greenwood and got specs only so I would not suggest that The. I was looking at going to Cronan this weekend to see how it is or possibly Red Shack. I have never been to Purdone Crossing on the Yuba but want to go. The blue lead crosses about a half mile upstream from the bridge and I was reading a diary from a miner in that area in 1851 and he wrote that the gulch right uphill from the crossing was the richest around at that time. Anyway there are lots of possibilites...Also I will have my Bazooka by the 25th so I planning on panning all the gold that thing is going to catch....

Goldenmojo

 

[ALewis]

Sounds good to me, I'm in, ! Seems like weather will be nice.
Going back up this weekend, going to camp at Mineral Bar Campground and hike in to the bar i've been workin lately w/ my brother (forgot to add we got .6 ish w/ him shovelin and me runnin).
Hopefully we can entice some other members into coming out, otherwise we'll see what we can do on our own....

 

[goldenmojo]

AL Between you me and Norcalsteve it looks like you have the most sluicing time as we have none. You seem to score well in Mineral Bar area so maybe if you find a suitable spot we could go there on the 25th. I will be receiving my bazooka gold trap this Saturday so I will be ready by the 25th.

Norcalsteve I spoke with Todd at Bazooka about shale shards getting into the trap which I get in my pan sometimes in large amounts depending on where i am at I am going to zip tie some 1/4" hardware cloth on the grizzlies to reduce the chance that they slide through and also get a piece of 1/8" and carry that with me too. I have a good feeling that we will do well........

GM

 

[Lookin4goaled]

Hey guys... sorry for coming into this thread so late.... I just started prospecting also.... Have a sluice and pans/etc... been out a couple times, but my wife/baby/dog has previously restricted how far I can prospect on the claims depending on their tolerance on the area lol. I'm more than willing to work with others and just have a good time getting started with what seems like a great hobby... If you guys are open to one more, I'd be more than happy to offer my help.

Just let me know

Also a GPAA and LDMA member, so it opens up some more claims.... not saying they have more gold, but opens up some areas I suppose

 

[norcalsteve]

Hey guys... sorry for coming into this thread so late.... I just started prospecting also.... Have a sluice and pans/etc... been out a couple times, but my wife/baby/dog has previously restricted how far I can prospect on the claims depending on their tolerance on the area lol. I'm more than willing to work with others and just have a good time getting started with what seems like a great hobby... If you guys are open to one more, I'd me more than happy to offer my help.

Just let me know

Also a GPAA and LDMA member, so it opens up some more claims.... not saying they have more gold, but opens up some areas I suppose

Shinynoob,
Welcome we are meeting up next saturday. Have not set a spot yet. Hopefully we well in the next few days. I have been unavailable the last few days but will get in touch with Alewis and Goldenmojo and figure out where. Hopefully some more people will decide to join. Looking forward to meeting some of the folks here. And I can't wait to try out my BGT. I think Goldenmojo picked up his yesterday and was able to try it out this weekend. GM let us know how much gold you got this weekend.
Steve

 

[norcalsteve]

Shineynoob,
Sorry I misspelled your name above.

 

[Lookin4goaled]

Only heard great things bout the bazooka... let me know when you decide where to go... will be more than willing to help out...

 

[goldenmojo]

Norcalsteve got my BGT a supermini on Saturday. Watched Todd finish up the build of it and talked prospecting and geology with him. He is a really cool guy and very knowledgeable. Took it out and it out on the southfork american and it worked well especially with the gold that is there.I will PM you about this weekend. Looks like we will have a shinynoob also....

GM

 

[Prospector70]

Alas, I am too far away to participate, I would like to wish you all good hunting though. Take lots of pictures and a video or two for those of us who cannot attend.

I also like the BGT crowd. Got mine out for a couple of hours yesteday in a new spot on the same old river.

Sluice on!

 

[Lookin4goaled]

I'm going to have to check out Yankee Jim's next time I'm out that way.. There is a GPAA claim called Nancy's Gold off Mosquito Ridge really close to there....

On a separate note, I feel like an idiot... Ordered the BGT today, paid for shipping... just got the shipping status in... It will be delivered tomorrow, shoulda done a little reading and realized I could have just drove to pick it up.. unreal

EDIT UPDATE:

Bazooka just refunded half of the cost of shipping to me just from seeing my post on TN. Chris also said that had it not been already picked up, he would have held it for me... A good sign of a great company with customer service extending beyond what's expected!! THANKS BAZOOKA!

 

[goldenmojo]

I'm going to have to check out Yankee Jim's next time I'm out that way.. There is a GPAA claim called Nancy's Gold off Mosquito Ridge really close to there....

On a separate note, I feel like an idiot... Ordered the BGT today, paid for shipping... just got the shipping status in... It will be delivered tomorrow, shoulda done a little reading and realized I could have just drove to pick it up.. unreal

ShineyNoob it took me months to realize how close they were. I called last week and picked it up Saturday morning. Watched Todd finish building it. This weekend the 25th ALewis, Norcalsteve and I are going out and you are welcome to join us. I do not know where we will go but probably Mineral Bar or Yankee Jims. Yankee has been good to me. I have been at this for only about 4 months so I am relatively new and I am unsure of the experience of the others but we are out to get on the gold. Get back to us if you want to go....

Goldenmojo

 

[Lookin4goaled]

GM,

There is no doubt I want to go, going to have to check with the General when she gets home from L.A. later tonight to see if she has planned something for me I don't already know about... If not this trip, I will plant the seed for the next one you guys go on... My experience is very limited also, but in trying to find something that I can get into in my freetime that suits me, this seems to be the perfect choice. I love being outdoors and the possibility of getting gold is really the icing on the cake.

I'm glad that I found a group of people with comparable experience and in the same location I am, pretty much all I could ask for.

Also, see above for the updated post... Really impressed with the great customer service from Bazooka... they split the cost of shipping with me after seeing my post.

 

[Aufisher]

Good choice on the sluice! Their customer service rocks! Hope to meet up at the group meeting if not sooner. Welcome!

 

[goldenmojo]

Aufisher we invite you to and almost demand (LOL) that you join us at the river. You have great knowledge and a BGT. The only thing missing at this point is a cooler of cold drinks.... Think about it...

Goldenmojo