Digging Creeks

Today I applied online and for my prospecting permit...While I was reading up on a few reg's it say's you are not allowed to dig or undermine the banks of creeks but alot all of the utube clips I have watched shows people digging river and creek banks all the time,am I missing something or is the bank defined by the highest flood level...

Cheers...Sparra

As far as i understand digging is only allowed in the stream itself and not close to the banks.
I know of the U tube vids you mention promoting hacking into banks and it is this practise that will end prospecting as we know it.

Its a tricky one as to what you consider inside the creek. In full flow during winter a creek could be as wide as 10 metres and during low rain only two meters wide often you have two creeks in one with multiple banks cut in.

If you work an area seasonally you may be more knowledgeable about a particular creek and whats constitutes under the water line

I go by the low water line, i make a habit of backfilling any holes and it does not take long.
Slatey Creek in Creswick is getting hammered by recreational hobbyists the last two to three years and some of the digging has been drawing attention from the local rangers?

That is one of down sides of forums promoting locations.

Slaty is a perfect example of a creek that drops sp quick and look like shit most of the year. Partially from motorbikes

The reason they made the rule is that people have undermined banks and have been buried by the bank collapsing on them. It's more a safety thing than anything.

To me it's just dumb to be undermining a bank the pay streak for gold won't be there.

In terms of the power of a creek in full flood I have a local creek that flooded and carried full sized boulders along with trees and other debris. One of the boulders lodged in the branches of one of the trees at the side of the bank, that boulder is the size of a VW Beetle. The tree and boulder are also about 10 metres above the current level of the creek.

In terms of the damage a prospector can do with hand tools to a creek, it's infatesimal compared to what the water does in full flood. Now don't get me wrong I don't condone anyone wrecking a creek but when discussing this topic it has to be put into perspective as I have seen people blame prospectors for obvious flood damage.

Learn how to read a creek or river, study it when it is flooding and you will see the pay streak. Look for vortexes and eddy currents they give gold the opportunity to drop out of the main current. Look for natural riffles in the river, high areas of bedrock that create wild fast moving water vs the slow moving water beyond them. You will find the current pay streak has nothing to do with the bank. It will be at the inside edges of the bank where the gravel builds up and towards the centre of the creek.

Leave the banks of the creek alone. It just creates bad publicity with the local property owners and the public. Chase the gold pay streak instead.

So how does this rule affect if your using a detector in a creek and your digging out a known piece of gold,some of these rules are very GREY in their desciption, are a some of these rules left up to the propectors discretion, if you were in a creek bed and you happend to find a paystreak running into the bank would you dig it up,or would you leave it, if the rules state that you can not dig or undermine a creeks bank in the persuit of precious metals or gems, what does the rule state if you can see the precious metals or gems, your no longer in persuit, i have been pulled up for digging in a mullok dump chasing gold,it was explained to me that this is an earthern mound and should not be touched, i replied with as long as i put it back the way it looked what was the issue, it was agreed there was no great issue but the rules are the rules,standing around arguing the point that a fast flowing creek will do more damage than you with a pick and a pan is just a loosing arguement, try explaining to the highway patrol that it was safer to do 110kmh to overtake some nuffy doing 90kmh and banking up the traffic half a mile back, your probarbly still going to get a ticket, get caught digging or undermining the bank of a creek and they are going to want to know why, if your looking for gold your probarbly going to be in the poo, if your digging gold is that going to be another matter......... :/
In some case's it might just come down to your own judgement.........or how you explain your understanding of the rule's 8)

Here's an example. in between the blue lines is the actual creek in between the green lines is after winter for about 6 weeks with no rain. IN between the blue and green is alluvium but it only carries very fine gold and you have to move alot of it to get a show of colour, technically this is inside the creek however due to floods in 2011 this creek has trees blocking it all through here, it has changed the flow considerably.

In this instance the gold travels in an almost text book line straight around the inside bend (marked with yellow) if you focus on the rock build-up running downstream (market in red)on an angle you will find nice picker size nugs. rocks don't build like this by accident they are essentially a mirror to the bottom of the creek, rock bars pointing down stream are great gold catchers.
There is a bedrock ridge here that has one foot of pipe clay sitting on top, each holiday i watch people dig everywhere but inside the creek........ its not rocket science Gold collects in the creek, the creek concentrates the load for you.... find the load

There's only two types of people digging the banks. First the stupid. The above past explains why. The second is those chasing up bedrock for flood nuggets. They do exist. But it's like Tattslotto. Most times you'll be pounding out a zillion cubics for nought. For those beginners and the stupid that are set in there ways I'll give you the tip to get gold if it exists in the stream. Start as close to the middle as you can and work outward and up and down stream. Yes you'll be digging your backside of but you will find it. Moveaway from the bank. It's safer more productive and doesn't draw attention.I

I use a Trommel and sluice, your picture is perfect, explains how to do it for novices, the main gold is in the creek bed, I myself don't know why people undermine banks, (THERE IS NO NEED).

Secondly! The creek has always run where it presently is, it has never deviated so it is impossible for gold to have accumulated anywhere other than the creek bed. DO YOU UNDERSTAND!

Hare_Twigga said:

Secondly! The creek has always run where it presently is, it has never deviated so it is impossible for gold to have accumulated anywhere other than the creek bed. DO YOU UNDERSTAND!

Click to expand...

Errr!....Creeks and rivers do deviate - did you mean to say that one is better off digging where the water is currently following?

casper

Yeah sorry Casper, was just messing round. Just weren't sure if we were guiding fellow prospectors or giving them a bum steer. I agree tearing down creek banks is not the way to go. Not that there's no gold there but your not allowed to do it... You are allowed to dig holes on top of the banks though and this way you don't do any damage to the creek. From the picture I would be sinking some pot holes 5mtrs above the top blue line,filling them in afterwards of course.

Well explained and understood, thanks very much for the explanation.

THANKYOU
I new to gold prospecting and still have a lot to learn.
These posts were great.
And thank you GOlddigg, know where to look now.

Digging in the creek will keep you out of trouble as long as you fill in every hole you dig, keep it tidy and take your rubbish home.
You have a lot to read about, not every area is the same with rules. Some areas want you to dig in the creek, or have markers out of the creek saying how far you can dig. I keep to what is on my maps, showing where the Crown area of the creek reaches to 20ft to both sides of the current creek shape.

On the youtube vids, they are probably still within the limit of the creek area and where they are still allowed to. There are grey areas everywhere on this subject, but simply, keep it clean, and keep yourself out of trouble. If it seems wrong, then simply don't do it. There are many creeks that have great gold right in them.

If you get out to the golden triangle, you will notice that it is a very different story out there with diggings, but that basic rule of filling in holes should still be stuck to.

You have to work your own way around problems here and there though.

Fill in your holes, and set an example for other prospectors. You can't control other people, but you can control your own actions. I have seen areas completely maggoted by prospectors, but still, a tree falling in the creek or flood would cause much more damage than that damage I have seen. I have filled in many holes that others have left right in the middle of the creek, thanks for that whoever you are 8).

My biggest environmental 'hate' where I live is wombats. They dig and tunnel right under the massive tree roots, causing the tree to fall right over the creek where it is left for years, blocking the creek, forcing the creek to create a new route. And they don't even look for gold under there!! ...hmmm train wombat gold sniffers...

I'm new to the forum and all the info i have read in the last couple of days is making my head feel like its going to explode, but thanks for the info on the proper way to do things