fishbone Posted August 11, 2008 Report Share Posted August 11, 2008 Grubstake and Shep probably know this area well. I have been drawn to it for years, since I started Detecting. It doesnt have much romance to me as far as a dredging, or sluicing spot (regulations dictate that). But, for me it is theclosest large old Bucket line dredge fields for me to detect in. (about 45 mins away) It is massive. Similar to the Feather River Dredge fields It spans a legnth of about 10 + miles and is about 1.5 - 2 miles wide. Google maps shows it well.I have found that these places are hard to detect for a number of reasons. This is good for the rest of us. The footing is tiring. Constant slipping and sliding on round river rock piles, some 30 feet high. When you dig, your holes areimmediatley filled in by surrounding cobbles. I sometimes implement a small piece of plywood to work on. But use a Coiltek pinpointer to locate targets amongst those pesky everymoving' cobbles. ( a must )Furthermore, it gets hot out there. It's always easy to find a ropeswing by the river to cool off. I have made some nice finds out there over the years. I prefer to hit it in the winter months. I dont have a problem sharing this spot because plenty of people know about it. but some dont. It's also such a huge area its hard to cross paths. Cheers, John Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
vini Posted August 11, 2008 Report Share Posted August 11, 2008 John I know the area well many times fished the river, did some panning and last year detected some piles and found tons of trash, just what kind of gold are you finding there I thought that was all real fine gold that far down the Merced river? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fishbone Posted August 12, 2008 Author Report Share Posted August 12, 2008 Yep, most of the gold that far down was pretty fine. I have found some nice quartz species, and about 1.2 oz of nuggets from .3 dwt to about 4 dwt. Over the years. These, I suspect were caught up in clay balls or packed cemented material back then. Not fantastic finds by any means. I did work for them and these finds are over a 8-9 year period. A good friend of mine found a very nice 9 oz specie with 1.14 oz gold strung in it in 2003. Its a close drive , but its beats up my knees and ankles . I stay away from the easier to detect areas and hike in until I dont see any modern trash. I do find plenty of trash but its older, and usually ferrous or lead. Cheers ,john Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
vini Posted August 12, 2008 Report Share Posted August 12, 2008 Tell you this much those tailings made the best bass fishing holes I've ever been in, back there on the road that goes to the hatchery , I'm thinking it was Robinson road? south side of the merced on Gst, I grew up in Merced.Interesting stuff John makes sense about the clay balls I have seen them, McClure might have some good detecting sites also I would LOVE to try some high banking or dredging some gravel bars down there, BUT that aint allowed Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fishbone Posted August 13, 2008 Author Report Share Posted August 13, 2008 Well , no luck at Selling the other day if I didnt mention it.Ive always thought about hitting McClure, but need to do my homework, as where to start there. Time to look over the maps. The thought of running a highbank combo unit has crossed my mind many many times on the section of river, errrrr. Too bad. John Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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