Importance of watching water flow

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Sorry if this post seems "obvious" to the experienced but wanted to share & also get some views. Today I went for a detect at a place I have had previous success. It's on a ridge above a creek that I had never seen run before. Apart from some scattered waterholes it has always been dry. Don't know if it was the drizzly rain or the wet ground from Saturday's rain but had no luck detecting - the rain/wet is my excuse & I'm stickin to it :p

I noticed the water rising today to a point where it began to run between waterholes. I have walked some areas of this creek with the detector & also found some nice specks panning. To be honest I thought I had worked out the "textbook" areas where gold would be but after seeing actual water flow have reconsidered.

The flow, although relatively small, seemed to indicate to me from my vantage point on the ridge that 2 inside corner areas with a lot of rock/gravel build up may not be the prime gold traps I thought?

It appears on the first corner that the water would continue straight until hitting the bedrock wall on the outside corner. There is then more bedrock that comes out from this wall back towards the inside corner creating one of the usual waterholes. The water slows in here before speeding up again where the thin area between bedrock & inside corner. My thoughts are that more gold may be dropping out on the "wrong" side? Unless the creek fully dried up you would need to take a bit of a swim &/or use the illegal D word set up.

The other corner is same rock/gravel bar on a slight inside corner. Bedrock comes out from the opposite side restricting flow & quickening the flow here. There is a slowing of water again on what appears to be the "wrong" side in behind the bedrock. This area has previously been dry & didn't look too interesting until now. Again from what I observed I think gold may drop out in behind here.
More experienced people might say to keep concentrating on the insides - not sure. I am going to test these areas once the water drops again - just to check my observations/theories.
What do others think? Do you always follow the textbook in these types of areas? Any other tips for these seasonal creeks?
 

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