That's fantastic! Congrats!!
May I ask what has changed since you were a greenhorn like me? Better place? Better Equipment? Better technique?
The single most important aspect is the ground. No matter how good your equipment, knowledge or technique is, if there isn't gold then you cant expect to find gold. Once you've located good ground then the rest comes into play. I think the second most important aspect is knowledge. I think I have logged thousands of hours in research. I've read anything I can on the subject of prospecting. You have to know what your doing! Gold is easy to capture. You don't need thousands of dollars in equipment, heck you could capture gold with dog poop if you tried hard enough. Look at MadMarshel, he goes out with a gold pan and basic tools and supports himself snipping cracks in bedrock.
For me, I choose to dredge as there is nothing else like it under the sun. When your underwater, your calm, you forget the problems in your life, your whole focus is the task at hand, getting material up your nozzle. If you daydream and lose focus you could die. But you would die on your terms, doing what you want and not because of someone else's stupidity.
There is no sweeter music then rocks "pinging" on the nozzle and the sound of water bubbles as you exhale. It's very serene. Then you get the adrenaline rush when you uncover a pocket of gold, find that nugget or do your clean out and find your cons full of gold. It's like a drug, you want more.
Don't get me wrong, for me gold is a means to the end. I hear people say they have gold fever...well gold is money...if dog poop was valuable then I would be collecting it. Yesterday was my birthday, I turned 44 and in my life I have had many jobs. Some I liked, some I hated. I've done jobs that I despised, worked for people who where bigots, whom I couldn't stand to be around because they are asses and such but the pay was good so I did the job. Dredging allows me the freedom of working for the best company on the planet, have the best co-workers you could ask for and the freedom to do it your way. Prospecting for me is about freedom. Gold is a means to a end.
Nice shine .
