Steve Herschbach Posted November 7, 2013 Report Share Posted November 7, 2013 Nice solid 9.1 gram (0.3 ozt) nugget I found this summer in Alaska with my Fisher Gold Bug Pro and 10" x 5" DD coil. Was part of a real nice day of detecting with my buddy Bernie. True story when I got the Gold Bug Pro I did not really warm to it immediately but it has become one of my favorite detectors. It is a deceptively simple but very powerful and effective nugget detector. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Admin nuggethunting Posted November 8, 2013 Admin Report Share Posted November 8, 2013 Hey Steve, What coil are you using, the 10-inch elliptical DD? I haven't used anything bigger than the 5-inch Round, but heard of good results from the 10-inch. Great find with the GB Pro. Thanks for sharing!Rob Allison Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Steve Herschbach Posted November 8, 2013 Author Report Share Posted November 8, 2013 Yup, 10" x 5" DD is a great coil, should be stock on the detector. Best coil for the unit in my opinion. But this nugget was so shallow it did not matter. I was just first person on planet to put coil over that square foot of earth. Still it was that coil that really made me take a liking to the GB Pro for all around use. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NvDoug Posted November 8, 2013 Report Share Posted November 8, 2013 Hi Steve,Very nice. . . Was that nugget cleaned up with anything besides H20? and Thanks for the your input on the GB Pro and coil choice/preferrence.Doug Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Steve Herschbach Posted November 8, 2013 Author Report Share Posted November 8, 2013 The nugget was found in tailing piles and real clean, just rinsed it off. Already been through a sluice box after all! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
adam Posted November 8, 2013 Report Share Posted November 8, 2013 Nice one Steve ! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
oldies1955 Posted November 8, 2013 Report Share Posted November 8, 2013 Steve: Thats one beautiful nugget WTG on finding it. GL to you out there.Tom H. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Admin nuggethunting Posted November 9, 2013 Admin Report Share Posted November 9, 2013 Hey Steve, I might try poking around with the 10-inch this weekend. I know where there is a mine dump with a fair amount of trash, but specimen with visible gold mixed within the pile. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Steve Herschbach Posted November 9, 2013 Author Report Share Posted November 9, 2013 Good idea Rob. I of course normally use my GPX but the Gold Bug Pro came into play in really trashy areas, in very brushy areas, and frankly when I just was just too tired for the Minelab/harness/battery/bungee setup. Grabbing a 2.5 lb detector is pretty nice at the end of a hard day of Minelabbing!I bet you like that coil if you have not already tried it. It makes the detector look like it should! Here is mine and this is the ground that nugget was found in. Those are tailings. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Admin nuggethunting Posted November 9, 2013 Admin Report Share Posted November 9, 2013 Hey Steve, I agree, I drag several VLF's out in the field for weekend trips, but 99.9% of the time I don't even pull them out. I'm using the Minelab GPX 5000. Speaking of using the Fisher Gold Bug Pro, I have a few areas in mind, where I haven't really put in the effort, but believe these spots hold a chance at a big nugget among the rubbish. Do you have any suggestions as for testing or even hunting these areas, such as how to really ID a big gold nugget vs. iron rubbish? I have been playing around with the GB Pro on large and small iron garbage and decent sized nuggets trying to figure out what I should really be paying attention to rather that just audio. Both sound the same for the most part, but trying to really figure out the meter and what to really pay attention to and how high I should be over the target to make the meter respond somewhat correctly. Any advice would be appreciated. I know there is no easy answer to this though. Rob Allison Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Steve Herschbach Posted November 9, 2013 Author Report Share Posted November 9, 2013 Hmmm, quite a bit to that question.I normally hunt in all metal. The detector hits all targets with the same audio signal except the stronger the target, the stronger the signal. There is a little "speedometer" target id readout in all metal above the big ground phase reading (I wish that was reversed!) and so after hearing target I work it and eyeball the reading. If you get no target id it is target deeper than disc can hit (all metal goes deeper than disc) so dig until you get target id or target.You need to decide on what target id to dig and what to pass. In theory all 40 and above is non-ferrous so in theory just dig all 40 and higher. Reality is small gold or very deep gold can read iron. I usually opt for digging some iron, and so depending on types of ferrous trash and ground mineralization the actual number I choose may be 35-39, usually 38.Then, and this is key, work the target. If the number bounces even once to or above your chosen break point, dig. The numbers bounce around, and if they consistently read at or below your chosen reject number, for example 38, if the number is always 38 or lower pass it up. If it bounces even once to 39 or higher dig it. Again, number picked depends on actual ground conditions. Start lower, maybe 35, then adjust upwards after digging targets. As long as you are not digging too much ferrous stay put but is too much digging adjust higher. VLF discrimination can and will lie on small or deep gold so better conservative and digging at least some ferrous than leaving gold.Ok, let's assume too much trash, to many signals to analyze each one. Go to disc mode. Immediate depth loss! But now we can set target id audio break point. The unique tone disc system has three tones, mid tone, low tone, and no tone (target rejected). You can move range but it is not totally adjustable. The low tone area compresses as the disc is set higher. If you set low tone cutoff at 30 all target below 30 make no sound at all and all passed up. You never know they are there. 30 to about 55 will be low tone, meaning most gold and small ferrous, 56 and above will be mid tone, usually brass but maybe big nuggets. There is no high tone on the GBP.You can adjust this potential gold tone range to a certain extent. Set at 35 and nothing below 35 reports, 35 to maybe 60 (doing this from memory so may be off a bit on the numbers) will be low tone, above 60 mid tone. Or if trash really is bugging you set at 39 so only 40 and above beeps.But because some targets read mostly ferrous but bounce non-ferrous at times it is a fuzzy choice. If you set for 40 and above and small nugget reads 38 on first pass, you miss it and never know it was there. At the end of the day it depends on trash level and how much target analyzing you want to do in the fuzzy zone. Most small nuggets actually read around 50 but again all depends on gold size, shape, purity - you know the drill.Lot of nuance in what is a deceptively simple detector. The more I use it the more I appreciate it. In all metal with 11" x 7" DD it approaches PI depths on most average size gold in moderate to mild ground. I very much like having the dual ability of hunting in all metal while having visual target id. No toggling back and forth.Hope this helps. I need to get out detecting myself right now so good luck to both of us! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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