#Tips
Do not go roaming around in the goldfields. Pick an area, and spend your time slowly and methodically in that one area. Overlap all your swings and cross grid the area. Keep the area small, so as to make gridding easy without having to trace your steps too hard.
Wear headphones, no matter what, and do not swing fast. Even do a double swing. Give the machine time to do its thing.
DIG EVERY TARGET
PS. And do not rake the area you are gridding. Why? Well, the gold game is a lot about other people going to areas where others have been.
So, you might rake an area, and the next people will come and see that there was activity in that area. That can be a dead give away. Especially if you have found an area that produces. Before you know it that area will be barer than the moons surface.
Know what type of gold you are looking for and what size gold your machine is suited to finding. No point swinging and SDC or Gold Monster over deep ground. Also no point swinging an GPZ or GPX over ground that produces flower/pan gold.
And mostly, listen to other peoples advice, but always keep an open mind. There can be plenty of misleading advice out there.
Always find out for yourself.
I was always raised with this motto from the old man.
"If you want something done properly, do it yourself. And if you are going to do something, then do it properly the first time"
GOOD LUCK out there. Hope you find your fair share of shiny.