Been out to Drake half a dozen times or so since the above post. Tried the same creek again once, very limited options, I don't think much is left by the old timers. Mostly going to Mcleods, top and bottom of the creek. The top is very similar to the above creek, but with more options. Not much there though, seems to be a case of test pan 20 likely spots, maybe get colour in 1 of them. Remember someone saying that in the 70s or 80s the landowners? dredged the top part of the creek. It's private property one side, state forest the other. Walking the creek it is quite obvious that stretches have been dredged. There's also evidence of recent highbanker activity too; a big hole dug out of the bank, and tailings piles. The water flow is nowhere near enough for a sluice, and if it was the hole would be underwater. Out of curiosity I test panned the back of the hole near the bottom, got nothing. Tested the side near the front, a few flakes. Repeated, same result. Lots of old timers diggings everywhere, from the creek banks up to maybe 20-30m above creek level.
The bottom of the creek is where everyone goes mostly. There are numerous access points, just park and the creek is right there. It gets hit pretty hard, and has been since 1857. There is lots of bedrock, lots of crevices. Unfortunately 99.9% of these have been cleaned out. But, what I'm finding is the gold is actually getting easier to find. A few years ago when I started going there, wouldn't really get much. After a 2 year break from the creek seem to do good every trip. Probably because I get bored easily. Once I find a good spot I'll do a few pans, then get bored and go looking for somewhere else. Most of the day is spent looking for new spots. Patterns do start to emerge on where the gold is
.
The bottom of the creek is where everyone goes mostly. There are numerous access points, just park and the creek is right there. It gets hit pretty hard, and has been since 1857. There is lots of bedrock, lots of crevices. Unfortunately 99.9% of these have been cleaned out. But, what I'm finding is the gold is actually getting easier to find. A few years ago when I started going there, wouldn't really get much. After a 2 year break from the creek seem to do good every trip. Probably because I get bored easily. Once I find a good spot I'll do a few pans, then get bored and go looking for somewhere else. Most of the day is spent looking for new spots. Patterns do start to emerge on where the gold is
.
