New to prospecting in California is there anywhere good close to me?

[SNIFFINNUGGZZZ]

Hi there! I am from southern California(orange County)and A few friends and I decided to take up prospecting as a Hobby and after our first trip to san gabriel river east fork last weekend we are absolutely hooked! I got us a 30 inch lil mini Sluice to start out But it seemed a Little under par for the ammount of material we were trying to use... Any comments and tips on this would be very helpful! Also another issue we would have was everytime we got the water right the material would seem to favor one side of the sluice more than the other and Nomatter what i did to Balance it I failed to level out the material in our sluice box. Now we showed up to the River late so we didnt have much time to hike in, we kindof hurried and just picked a spot on a bend off to the side where it was clear other people had been digging before after panning dozens of pans of gold on site and back at home we have only found for certain one or two teeny tiny gold flakes and possibly more but we cant be for sure because they are so tiny.... is there any way to find out of the lil tiny specs that look like gold really are gold or not?

 

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[vpnavy]

Until someone pipes in - you might consider browsing Sub-Forums: California for information (i.e., clubs, hunts, finds, legends, maps, etc.) directly related to your state.

 

[SNIFFINNUGGZZZ]

Thank you

 

[midnightmoon]

Welcome to the addiction. Oops. Not suppose to write that out loud. Welcome to the Gold Forum.

You have a sweet little sluice. Are you running your material through a classifier first? No rocks / mud pies in your material, your sluice will be less overwhelmed. But, check those rocks and mud pies first before chucking the contents of your classifier back into the river. So, your sluice has a favorite side, picky little booger! Observe the river's current, are you near a bend? Tweek the angle of the box, left or right, see if that evens things out.

You and your buds may want to consider joining a prospecting club. Orange County 49ers and Prospector's Club of Southern California are nearby. Clubs are a great help, even if you just join for 1 year.

There are some guys on here that practically live in the river, they'll be by to give more input.

Great bunch of people here!

 

[Oldyoungtimer]

The angle of the current hitting your box will push things to one side. Happens to me all the time. I use the microscopes at my work sometimes to look at the gold i collect. Once you see the gold you won't have to question weather it is or isn't anymore. After a few times of finding gold it's very recognizable so don't worry jf you think it will always be hard to notice lol. Good luck!

 

[goldenIrishman]

I don't know about O.C. but there were some great areas down in San Diego County that I used to go to when I lived in Cal. We were getting nice big flakes near Ramona from an ancient river bed that ran across the top of a hill on the east side of town. Wouldn't mind going back to that area now that I've got a lot more experience under my belt.

 

[Aurabbit79er]

Welcome to the addiction. Oops. Not suppose to write that out loud. Welcome to the Gold Forum.

You have a sweet little sluice. Are you running your material through a classifier first? No rocks / mud pies in your material, your sluice will be less overwhelmed. But, check those rocks and mud pies first before chucking the contents of your classifier back into the river. So, your sluice has a favorite side, picky little booger! Observe the river's current, are you near a bend? Tweek the angle of the box, left or right, see if that evens things out.

You and your buds may want to consider joining a prospecting club. Orange County 49ers and Prospector's Club of Southern California are nearby. Clubs are a great help, even if you just join for 1 year.

There are some guys on here that practically live in the river, they'll be by to give more input.

Great bunch of people here!

Midnnightmoon is a smart lady. I knew right away that you need to make a wall to create a straight water flow into the sluice. You will learn a lot here. I've been chasing the yellow metal almost 20 years now and I'm still learning. There are hundreds of years of experience contained in the minds of the people on this board. Here is a copy /paste from a post from a few weeks back about how to judge your dig.

It really is a numbers game. the more you dig the more gold you find. the ratio isn't always low. 2 small pieces in a 5 gal bucket means the area has gold, not bad, 4 pieces a bucket is encouraging. 2 or 3 flakes in a bucket, Now we're talking! you are in the zone. 5 to 10 pieces and flakes, you are on the gold. Dig your ass off. If you are working near the water try to dig the direction of the river flow. Large obstructions interrupt and concentrate the flow of gold as it travels. That's what I look for. All rivers have floods and that is when gold travels. As the flood recedes the flood materials stop in layers and the gold stops first because it's the heaviest. That is why we always have to dig.
There are good books and videos you will want check out. James Kline is a good read for California Mining. Gale Butler will teach you about California Geology. Her Daddy was a gold miner. I have a fair library started. My garage is like a small mining company, wet, dry, high bank, bedrock, metal detecting,underwater dredging. So get out there. The adventure never ends unless you let it. Go find some yellow metal once you get a good long look at it in the bottom of your pan you'll never forget it.

 

[TheNewCatfish]

When i was in the Navy in San Diego some guys used to talk about a place across the mountains where they went panning. I wasn't into prospecting back then, so i didn't ask'em any questions. But i remember, the name of the place had the word "Eagle" in it. Eagle Creek, or Eagle Pass (something like that).

 

[SNIFFINNUGGZZZ]

Thanks for all of the information guys I really appreciate it! Ive gone twice more since this post and we have actually found some gold! We are Addicted so you will see me posting here quite frequently Thanks again for all of the information and advice!