Iowa hill bridge hike in..

[NorCalNugs]

So this past wednesday and thursday I took some friends out panning. I took my bazooka gold super mini sluice, some shovels, some pans and adventure in our minds. We had a plan, first day we go out and prospect for a good spot to dig out, I do want to say I have prospected the first 2 miles in pretty well. So we pan our way up the river finding only a few colors per pan, yes my gold fever is strong and I find myself only getting excited when I find a bigger piece than last time or 15 colors+ in the pan. The spot we found had 17 in the test pan...I freaked and yelled dig! Well we came out with this



Its not completely spread out. Mid way through the day I tested our tailings...there was lots of black sand a 5-10 colors in the pan. I was pretty dissapointed that my sluice wasn't catching everything. We had good flow but the box always filled with small rocks. Do you need extreme flow for the box to knock the rocks out or do you need to empty the mini after less than a 5 gal bucket? We ran about 20

 

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[TheGoldProspector]

So this past wednesday and thursday I took some friends out panning. I took my bazooka gold super mini sluice, some shovels, some pans and adventure in our minds. We had a plan, first day we go out and prospect for a good spot to dig out, I do want to say I have prospected the first 2 miles in pretty well. So we pan our way up the river finding only a few colors per pan, yes my gold fever is strong and I find myself only getting excited when I find a bigger piece than last time or 15 colors+ in the pan. The spot we found had 17 in the test pan...I freaked and yelled dig! Well we came out with this <img src="http://www.treasurenet.com/forums/attachment.php?attachmentid=1008934"/> Its not completely spread out. Mid way through the day I tested our tailings...there was lots of black sand a 5-10 colors in the pan. I was pretty dissapointed that my sluice wasn't catching everything. We had good flow but the box always filled with small rocks. Do you need extreme flow for the box to knock the rocks out or do you need to empty the mini after less than a 5 gal bucket? We ran about 20

Awesome day! There is much to see off Iowa hill!

 

[goldenmojo]

It is a good that you tested the tailings. You can blow gold out if you try. What angle were you running and how fast the flow/ how high up on the fins was the water level (volume)? I have a super mini and work the North Fork and the South Fork. Because of the good flow on both rivers you can run it higher up in the water and almost flat. It looks like you caught smaller pieces and it will catch it you just have to back off the throttle. Good Luck.

GM

 

[Aufisher]

I run my prospector for at least 20 buckets. I would think the super mini might fill up in less than a quarter of that. Guessing a few buckets if heavy black sand. Mojo, how many buckets can you run? If you have the regular mini it could be less.

 

[ALewis]

Was a good weekend at Iowa Hill...Hiked in Fri the 13th, maybe 10 PM under the Full Moon.....It's only Monday & I am ready to get back out !

And yes, so much black sand on the NF American....

 

[Goldwasher]

Yea I would clean out a mini,quite often if I was running bank run....that's the reason I traded up to the prospector I knew I would load up the trap too often.

 

[goldenmojo]

I missed the part about halfway through the day. I only run two buckets and then dump it. If I am working flood gold among large cobble I dump it every bucket to help graph the layers and specific areas within the area I am working. Helps with my ability to read the river. Even with dumping it that often it is still fast and easy.

 

[Aufisher]

I would recommend you quickly inspect the gold content of the trap and then dump the gold and black sands immediately into a sealing plastic container. You can finish pan at home and keep your production up by digging instead of panning and snuffing on site.

 

[NorCalNugs]

Ya there is always tiny cobble and yes its mostly flood gold, we were dumping the sluice after every bucket but from what you guys told me I think we have the angle wrong