The days I caught the bug..

So a few years back I was one of the guys that had a sluice box, pan and ventured out once or twice a year. The results were allways in the category of- where is it? One day I read a bit about "sniping" and thought I may as well give it a shot. I didnt really have the faintest idea of what to do but managed to find 2 grams of what at the time was the coarsest gold Id found. I was over the moon! I could actually convince people what I had was gold!

Next weekend saw me back at my spot and this time around I managed 3.2 grams, also met a guy down the river who was just getting into it. Being the nice guy I am I invited him to come and have a snipe with me at my spot the next weekend. The image below is the first two days worth.

The next weekend brought me 7.6grams and I was hooked! Over the next few weekends i got a total of a couple of ounces from there, my mate got around an ounce and another guy maybe half an oz. All from 20m of River!


How do you add photos to your posts?

Great story there hatter. Curious to know what sniping is though. Do a search on the forum, Stoppsy from memory has put a video on how to add pictures and video to your post.

Sniping is the name given to basically snorke;ing for gold in rivers. For me it involves a wetsuit snorkel and mask, a crowbar, pick and screwdriver.
Basically you clean out or break open underwater crevices in bedrock.

Great result 1864hatter. Thanks for sharing your story & photos. I don't think I would like to do any sniping in my local creeks, to many leeches. They are friendly enough when you are panning.

G'day Hatter, Very nice gold. No wonder you got the bug Hows that gold bug going for you. Whats the smallest bit you have got with it? I managed a wopping .08 gram piece with my 3000 yesterday. That was it for the day. Oh well...at least I wasnt skunked.

Good luck out there

JW

Hey JW, the gold bug is going great when it gets a chance to get out and about. 0.1g pieces are no challenge at all to the gold bug. Of course it wont detect them very deep, sometimes I find tiny little flakes that are not even worth bending down for. Ive learnt to evaluate the potential size of a target to some degree so sometimes I just leave those small bits to grow bigger. (By the way, alluvial gold does grow but not in our lifetimes). 0.08grms is a tough day!

Some nice water worn bits there!! Nice work hatter..