Advice for getting started in panning and sluicing

[Waynos]

Hi everyone,
I recently got hooked on panning and river sluicing via watching videos.
Thinking about buying a panning kit,a Keene a51 sluice and a few 5 gallon buckets and trying this hobby in the spring..I'm not interested in dredging just using a river or stream to look for gold.

My father in law is coming to New Hampshire in May and I'd like to surprise him and take him panning/sluicing cause he loves it.
I looked into a place and was told $150 per person and $250 for 2 people on an all day trip.
It seems kinda steep to me but I have never done this so is that reasonable?

I'd eventually like to get to a point where I know where I can go on my own or with a buddy at my own leisure without having to pay that much each time.
My father inlaw has experience panning but is from out of state so it will be up to me to plan a day as a surprise.
As an avid metal detector I understand you can work all day and find nothing..and I'm okay with that..I just enjoy getting out and having fun
Any help/suggestions are welcome
Thanks
Waynos

 

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[russau]

What price do you put on memories! A pay to play for the day might be a good place to start without lots of research on where to go for 1 day!

 

[brianc053]

Waynos, I've taken two guide-led trips this year (one in Colorado, one in California) and they were fantastic. I live in New Jersey and I'm most familiar with prospecting for glacial gold in East Coast streams, so my logic was that I needed local help in areas I wasn't familiar with in order to have a good chance of success. In Colorado I probably would not have dug in the location chosen by the guide; I didn't know how to read the Arkansas River like he did. In California we went dry washing; I don't own a dry washer, so I needed the guide for his equipment, his access to a claim and his knowledge of where to dig within that claim.
However, I will say that in both cases using the guide took away some of the adventure, some of the treasure-seeking side of what I enjoy about this hobby. So some considerations for you:
- $250 for two people for a day is a bit expensive, though you're asking someone to spend a whole day with you and share his/her experience and equipment. His/her time and knowledge is worth something.
- You say you enjoy getting out and having fun; do you know if your father in law looks at the hobby the same way? Will he be disappointed if he doesn't get any color in his pan?
- Do you have your own equipment at all? If you're thinking about buying some equipment, and you think you'll use it regularly, the money may be better spent on the equipment rather than the guide.
- You can probably do research on this website and find information on where to go in New Hampshire. Ironically I'm planning a trip up your way next Summer for my GPAA chapter, and we're looking at the area around the Twin River Campground on the banks of the Ammonoosuc and Wild Ammonoosuc Rivers. I get the impression from my research that you can pan & sluice in those rivers and have a high probability of finding some color just about anywhere (fine flour gold). Maybe you don't need a guide but instead can work with that campground?

Good luck and no matter what, enjoy your time with family and in the great outdoors!

- Brian

 

[KevinInColorado]

$250/day for an outfitter is a fair deal. Brian is a smart shopper and found real bargains! He's also a smart prospector...take his advice on the Ammonoosuc and Wild Ammonoosuc. A bit of googling the river names, campground names with the words gold and prospecting will teach you much!

PS here's what I found with a little googling a while back:
New Hampshire gold pieces in placer deposits range in size from very fine “specks” to pearl size “nuggets. ” In truth, hard work can probably produce traces of gold from many streams in the state. Gold has been reported from many streams in northern and western New Hampshire. The following is a partial list. Benton, NH, Tunnel Brook, Lincoln, NH, Notch Brook, Lisbon, New Hampshire, Wild Ammonoosuc River, Ammonoosuc River below Bath, NH, Northern Coos County, Indian Stream (gold has been reported in glacial deposits in the area) Perry Stream and Swift Diamond River. Placer gold can be found on the Ellis River, near Jackson, and on the Swift River, near Conway. Placer gold can be found on the Ashuelot River near Surry and Gulf Stream near Chesterfield. Placer gold can be found in Indian and Perry Streams near Pittsburg, the Dead Diamond and Swift Diamond Rivers north of Errol and Clear Stream between Errol and Dixsville. Near Milan the area lead, copper and zinc mines produced a by product of gold and silver. Pittsburg near the headwaters of Indian Stream (includes West, Middle and East branches of Indian Stream) in all gravel bars, beds, benches and terraces you can find Placer gold. Placer gold can be found in The Ammonoosuc, The Wild Anunonoosuc, Baker, Beebe, Gale, Mad, Salmon, West Branch and Upper Mad Rivers. It can also be found on Notch Brook, Salmon Hole Brook and Tunnel Brook. Bath area has numerous old base metal mines which produced a by product of gold. The Lisbon area mines produced copper, lead, silver and a by product of gold. The Littleton area base metal mines produced a by product of gold. There is a mineralized belt containing many mines. This belt extends form southwest along Route 10 for 12-15 miles. This belt includes Lyman, Lisbon and Bath and produced gold as by product. The Lyman area copper, lead, silver mines produced a by product of gold. The Dodge Mine had a total production of around 2,000 ounces of gold, Northwest of Tinkervale, on Gardner's Mountain, there are some area base metal mines that produced a by product of gold. The Wild Ammonoosuc River is located in Landaff, New Hampshire just off of Route 302. The lower part of the river, below what is known as Big Boulder, has a lot of fine flower gold, some good sized flakes and an occasional nugget. Gravel bars down stream near the main branch of the Ammonoosuc River, Placer gold can be found in Bloods Brook near Sullivan, the Cold River near Acworth and Willow Brook near Plainfield. The trout brook, quartz brook, gold brook, gold stream Kylie brook, sundae river, Charles river and sandy brook also are good locations with reports of fine gold. anderson stream, baked river, golden sty brook, epochal river and gale also have reports of fine flour gold and occasion grain size picker.

...wow, right?!

 

[Waynos]

Wow that's a lot of information and thanks everyone for your input!!!
My father inlaw has the same attitude of having fun with it..i live about 7 minutes from Surry but I don't know rules as far as whats OK to search or if I need permits or permissions nor do I know the exact location...I do know the army corps of engineers has off limits land somewhere in that area so I need to be careful not to ilrepresent the hobby by lack of knowledge

What I am thinking of buying,
I was going to buy a Garrett gravity trap gold panning kit for $30,a Keene a52 sluice for $125 and 3 5-gallon buckets from home depot for $8
Once I know where I can legally search I thought about getting some practice before my father inlaw arrives in late May.
So I'm trying to gain enough information to be legal and respectful
Maybe in May if I have my gear I can get someone to take a greenhorn to Surry lol

 

[KevinInColorado]

Don't buy home improvement store buckets, they are too thin...get buckets (for free even!) from your grocery store deli. Food service buckets are thicker and tougher to live thru the use and abuse of prospecting!

Also unless you have experience with the A52 sluice already, I'd strongly recommend a drop riffle sluice, such as those from Angus Mackirk, instead. They need less water flow to use and are easier to learn to use well to catch really fine gold. Another alternative that is easiest of all to set up, if you have enough water flow, is a Bazooka Goldtrap. Even the smaller ones (I have a "Supermini") handle more material than an A52 with less work since you don't have to classify the paydirt before running it thru the sluice.

 

[Waynos]

Don't buy home improvement store buckets, they are too thin...get buckets (for free even!) from your grocery store deli. Food service buckets are thicker and tougher to live thru the use and abuse of prospecting!

Also unless you have experience with the A52 sluice already, I'd strongly recommend a drop riffle sluice, such as those from Angus Mackirk, instead. They need less water flow to use and are easier to learn to use well to catch really fine gold. Another alternative that is easiest of all to set up, if you have enough water flow, is a Bazooka Goldtrap. Even the smaller ones (I have a "Supermini") handle more material than an A52 with less work since you don't have to classify the paydirt before running it thru the sluice.

Great info...I'll look into a bazooka goldtrap...my only reason for considering the A52 is it is available at a local shop in my area..I'm gonna watch some vids on the bazooka to get a prospective on how it works..never thought about food service buckets before...thanks for the tips!!

 

[goldenIrishman]

Another great drop riffle design is the Le' Trap. You can pretty much feed it as fast as you want and it's hard to clog it up. Great gold catchers as I catch even the super fines in mine.

For buckets you can also check with hotel laundry departments, bakeries etc. The laundry departments will also often have 15 gallon "hogs head" barrels which are great if yo ahve to haul water in like I do out here in the desert. Even though they're thicker in construction, you'll want to keep them out of the sun when you're not using them. Like any plastic they'll become brittle if left out.

 

[Laz7777]

What I am thinking of buying,
I was going to buy a Garrett gravity trap gold panning kit for $30,a Keene a52 sluice for $125 and 3 5-gallon buckets from home depot for $8

all good gear but skip the Homey Depot buckets, they will not hold up to gravels. find buckets that were meant to actually hold something heavy, like for paint or spackling, dumpster dive them if you have to, they're free and they won't end up with broken handles and bottoms breaking out, like HD or True Value or any of the other places that sell buckets.

 

[ratled]

Commercial painters are often giving away buckets, you just have to clean them. I would also stay away from kits, you can do better making your own

ratled

 

[Laz7777]

Also unless you have experience with the A52 sluice already, I'd strongly recommend a drop riffle sluice, such as those from Angus Mackirk, instead. They need less water flow to use and are easier to learn to use well to catch really fine gold. Another alternative that is easiest of all to set up, if you have enough water flow, is a Bazooka Goldtrap. Even the smaller ones (I have a "Supermini") handle more material than an A52 with less work since you don't have to classify the paydirt before running it thru the sluice.

I'll weigh in on this...I am opinionated on this matter, and I'd choose the A52 hands down. you most certainly can run as much material, if not more through the 52 as you can a bazooka or angus McWhatever...I've seen models of both brands in action and was very seriously unimpressed.
the bazooka I saw in action this last summer had a very large crack in it...aircraft aluminum don't crack..and I would not trust my hard work to something that purports to catch all my gold at the back end of the box! and in one small area...the grizzly was constantly getting clogged with pebbles. clean-up seemed more of a chore as well.
saw an angus very briefly in use..just drops with no riffles or carpet/moss? you gotta be kidding! build up some black sand that's in those drops and your gold skips over!
you run a 52 right, you won't see any gold past your 4th. riffle, period. I have the carpet cut in two at that point, and most everything is caught in the first 3 and the matting. and there's a lot less junk to clean.
and I do not classify, another myth from the makers of bazooka is that their box is the only one that can do this....BS! I run my 52 almost flat in fast water, I purpousely search out flat rocks for a base in the front and back end of the box to stop any undercurrent from moving it, and I don't run with a rock over the top and almost never on the sides!
water pressure over the top will hold the box in. plastic floats pretty good (as in a bazooka)
and the angus looked so much like a toy (it was a molded metal one I saw) that I had to laugh when I saw it.
enough of my opinion, though, I don't know what I'm talking about

PS: I've seen 30+ year-old Keenes still in use, I very seriously doubt I'll ever see a bazooka or angus 30 years from now, if i live that long that is.
Jobe is another consideration for a good box, never used one, but seen a few and they're built solid.
stay away from Royal or Gold Buddy...I've seen their remains in a few places,as in someone abandoned them rather than haul them out.

 

[Laz7777]

not going to edit again..but a few more observations I thought of in the bazooka war I started.
BTW, Kevin, not trying to get in a match with you, my apologies if this is construed as that.

the bazooka has no matting..I suppose you could glue one on, but my mat is there for me to tell if I'm hitting, how do you know if your digging worthless gravel or hitting paydirt with the bazooka?
and besides being plastic with it's inherent buoyancy, the thing is all flare and makes it much more difficult to place rocks along the side with nothing to catch. my 52 is Y-shaped, with bolts sticking out the side. I use this shape and the bolts if I need to place rocks along the side.
the guy I saw using his bazooka was having a time getting his box running just because of that.
clean-up..hmm, he did it 3-4 times in a day's run. I clean my 52 at the end of the day...once....and I've left it running for days if I was hitting the same spot.
loss? I've rerun tailings and mostly never found much. specs and an ocassional large flake that tumbled through, nothing I lost sleep about.

the 52 is tried and true and a good investment that will serve you for years.
my one gripe is that Keene still hasn't figured out how to properly glue the matting. they do not abrade the aluminum with a belt sander before they glue, which is something they should do...I did just that to mine after my mat peeled, glued it with Elmers Stix-All and it's held for 2.5 years since.

 

[Waynos]

Commercial painters are often giving away buckets, you just have to clean them. I would also stay away from kits, you can do better making your own

ratled

The only kit I was looking into was the Garrett panning kit and this is why,
It comes with a 14",10",1/2 classifier,snuffer and 2 vials for $29
It seems to be the "go to" around the web from what I'm seeing lol

 

[Waynos]

not going to edit again..but a few more observations I thought of in the bazooka war I started.
BTW, Kevin, not trying to get in a match with you, my apologies if this is construed as that.

the bazooka has no matting..I suppose you could glue one on, but my mat is there for me to tell if I'm hitting, how do you know if your digging worthless gravel or hitting paydirt with the bazooka?
and besides being plastic with it's inherent buoyancy, the thing is all flare and makes it much more difficult to place rocks along the side with nothing to catch. my 52 is Y-shaped, with bolts sticking out the side. I use this shape and the bolts if I need to place rocks along the side.
the guy I saw using his bazooka was having a time getting his box running just because of that.
clean-up..hmm, he did it 3-4 times in a day's run. I clean my 52 at the end of the day...once....and I've left it running for days if I was hitting the same spot.
loss? I've rerun tailings and mostly never found much. specs and an ocassional large flake that tumbled through, nothing I lost sleep about.

the 52 is tried and true and a good investment that will serve you for years.
my one gripe is that Keene still hasn't figured out how to properly glue the matting. they do not abrade the aluminum with a belt sander before they glue, which is something they should do...I did just that to mine after my mat peeled, glued it with Elmers Stix-All and it's held for 2.5 years since.

Does the mat have to be glued or does the rack hold it in place?

 

[russau]

Help save the planet! there are tons of free buckets along the highways for you to pick up! Ive given bunchs of buckets away at our outtings (10 at a time) to anyone that wanted them! AND I still have more than I need!

 

[Duckshot]

Help save the planet! there are tons of free buckets along the highways for you to pick up! Ive given bunchs of buckets away at our outtings (10 at a time) to anyone that wanted them! AND I still have more than I need!

Are you picking up trucker toilets?

Might want to wash real good.

[/sarcasm]

 

[KevinInColorado]

LAZ7777, no worries, I don't offend easily. The A52 works great but is much harder for a newbie to run well than the sluices I suggested.

As to cleanout frequency with a Bazooka, you certainly CAN run it all day without interrupting to clean out if you want, no harm there. Most guys clean out more often just because it's so quick and easy to do (especially compared to that A52 btw) and doing so gives you an excuse to take a break from shoveling ;-)

 

[et1955]

The A-52 with proper mods is the best for a beginner, not only will it show you instantly if you are finding gold but more important you are also learning where the gold is, in time you will develop an instinct for finding the gold. I have 2 A-52's, one bought back in 1977 and the other 16 years ago and they both still work great. As for the Bazooka, it requires a leap of faith to run, are you on the gold or not, how do you know where you found that big nugget. Nothing better than seeing that nugget for the first time after you scoop some material into the sluice. Here in Washington we have a lot of clay and mud, shoveling this stuff into the bazooka or A-52 without classifying first means loosing a lot of gold. All rivers are different but after having mined over 300 rivers from central California to Washington the A-52 never failed me. One last point, for those of you who are lucky enough to be able to shovel directly into you sluice, you have it easy. On average I have to carry my material 30 to over 100ft to the sluice, keeps me in shape.

 

[Adventure_Time]

You may enjoy yourself more with a small dredge... the reason being here in NH, unless you know a particular hotstreak, the gold is mostly fine stuff mixed into the cobble blouder slurry eventually gives us our "cobble bars" (we dont have gravel... any we do gets washed down state) so what you find out real quick is trying to dig into these cobble bars with a shovel is no bueno. Best thing is a two man dredge team, one person chuckin rocks while the sucks up the dirt inbetween. Stick to the streams, and look for the quartz and slate together. Its most a low grade deposit here mixed with glacial stuff so its all pretty even dispersed through the streams, you gotta move VOLUME here if you want a measurable pile of gold at the end of your trip.

 

[Waynos]

I'm OK with fine gold but not ready to dredge yet.
I want to start out with sluice,pan,classifier,shovel and buckets.
Once I find a place that won't cost an arm and a leg to prospect I can get some time under my belt to see if I'll like it as much as I think I will.
If I do love it and can find a spot within reasonable driving distance that doesn't charge a daily fee, then I'll look into fancier methods.
But for now I'll wade into things before I dive lol