River stone and sand. Horrible.

I know this has been done probally a thound times but i need some advice.
I gave up on digging near the river. Sand and fist sized pebbles.
90 percent of the creek is sand and large fist to football sized rocks.
There is a fair bit of flat ground to about.
The bottom of the valley is about 100 mtrs wide in some places and when in flood its all 10 odd mtrs under water.
Should i persist with trying to digg though rocky nightmare or find
Ground further from river with less rocks?
Im guessing the gold in and around the river would be beneth the river stone and sand and digging though that
Would be horrible. The river stone is very deep and holes dont take long to fill with water.
Or up the sides of the valley?

Try and find some black sand, the gold should be with it. Both are heavy. You have to try and find a good spot in the river.