Middle of the Creek quandary.

Auric said:

Greetings

I am sure most people on the forum are familiar with McMahons creek in Vic. Nice spot except for the mozzies the size of cessnas.

Anyway. I managed to find some clay towards an inside bend near the bank. Don't worry as a noob I know not to dig the banks.

Ended up with a few flakes which was nice. Dug down about 2 feet or so. (Yep backfilled it)

I have been told that bigger gold can be generally found towards the middle of any creek.

So the plan was to pick a spot in the middle and dig down. However that was near impossible. Fist sized rocks and about a foot down were large boulders.

So the question is whether it is worth scraping out loose material between the boulders or a waste of time, in that the gold is probably deeper. Should I just stick to the clay? :/

Cheers and Thanks.

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AussieChris said:

Outside bends? Do creeks work differently down Mexico way?

Look for the low pressure zones on the Inside bends, behind boulders, tree roots, think about where the flood zone would be look for clues in trees for flood levels, could be good gravels well above where the creek naturally runs in usual conditions, gold will drop out in a tear shape behind the best looking low pressure zone, it wants to drop out at the first opportunity.

Middle of the creek sometimes works when massive boulders populate it, otherwise its running pretty quick through there mid flood.

Hunt out the bedrock, work the crevices in it, work the gravels behind drop offs and where you see large rocks dropping out.

Mick is right, keep test panning. When you start getting 15-20 colours in a pan you know you need to start sluicing/highbanking

Good luck :goldpan:

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AussieChris said:

I wasnt really taking the piss Goldie, I thought this McMahons might have been a queer one with Auric having a bugger of a time on it. :Y:
Like some places clay=gold others clay=go home.

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Auric said:

Thanks heaps for the info guys. :Y:

Checked btw McMahons is not on the exempt list.

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