TRINITYAU

These are shots of Nuggeteer, Wes, and Rick playing around with the dry washer, I recovered the 1.18 pennyweight nugget out of a dry wash pile.

Myself and some crumbs I detected with the GB Pro

Hello all, I just got back from the trip to Northern Nevada. Here are a few pictures from the trip. I am sure a few of the other guys will have a few pictures to post also. The weather actually was really nice with only one afternoon that the wind became too noisy. We had about twenty five people show up. It was a good trip with lots of fun to be had and some even found a bit of gold. Thanks, TRINITYAU/RAYMILLS


These are pictures of the long piece being recovered from a side bank of a dry wash. El Dorado took a picture of me taking pictures.


This is a family portrait of the El Dorado family, Steve and Dee with their two companions.

Hello everyone, Chris and I got out this morning and got three pieces between us. He got the larger piece while I got the two smaller ones. He was using the GB Pro/10 inch coil and I was using my 3000/Sadie. Thanks, TRINITYAU/RAYMILLS

Hello all, the weather looks great right now for 17, 18, 19, 20 April. The trip is a go. TRINITYAU/RAYMILLS


http://www.wundergro...=lovelock%2C+nv 

Hello all, I got together with a couple of friends for a hunt today. We headed out to a place I hunted years ago, where I use to get coarse pocket gold. Chris, Robert and I all had our GB Pro's with five and ten inch coils. Upon arriving at the location we were all detecting within five minutes.

Within ten minutes Chris had two pieces. Robert and I were still hitting lead targets. About two hours into the hunt I finally scored a small one, rough and coarse just like I remember. Robert had to leave out early so Chris and I were on our own. We broke for lunch and sat down for about twenty minutes. After getting back to the hunt Chris got a third little piece. Twenty minutes later I got a nice solid signal and popped out another nice coarse piece, a bit larger than my first piece. Chris then got another piece bringing his total to four rough pieces. We both ended up with just about a gram for each of us. It was a beautiful sunny day just right for finding gold.

Thanks, TRINITYAU/RAYMILLS

Hello all, a few of my friends are going to Sawtooth Mtn, Nv for some detecting.
 
The dates are 17,18,19,20 April. If the weather is a no go then we are looking at the following weekend, 24,25,26,27 April. Anyone wishing to meet up with a great group of people shoot me a PM for details. TRINITYAU/RAYMILLS

Hello all, I met up with fellow hunter Chris and we headed out to a spot of private property where I have found come nice gold in the past. Chris was using the GB Pro/10 inch coil and I was using my 3000/Sadie. After parking we headed down the trail onto BLM land and walked to the fence that is the line for the private property. I called the owner up and let her know that we were going to be detecting today.

Chris wandered down the creek to work the bedrock while I went up and over a ridge to a small flat that had some bedrock popping up through the red and yellow soil. I dug a few pieces of lead and moved up the flat and got a nice signal right near the edge of some bedrock. I dug down several inches and the signal was screaming. It turned out to be an old piece of lead that had turned white over the years. I waved the coil over the hole again and heard another more mellow signal. A few inches more and I saw the glint of yellow in the dark iron rich soil. I reached down and picked up a small piece of gold that turned out to .65 of a gram. I thought to myself that I better check the hole again. There was still another signal in the now almost ten inch deep hole. I was on solid rock now and could not see anything resembling a target, the signal was coming from under the bedrock. I chipped away with the pick point and eventually broke off a few slices of the bedrock taking me down a few more inches. I repeated this step a few more times and finally went over the target and it was not in the hole anymore. After about seventeen inches the target was in the pile of broken bedrock and clay. I pinpointed and pinched some soil up between finger tips and waved it over the coil, I had it. Rather than drop it on the coil I set my detector down and dropped the soil into my other hand and stirred it around with a finger tip until I saw yellow. It turned out to be a nice melon seed piece of gold that was about two grams.

I hunted a while more with no other good signals so I headed back towards where I had left Chris. After finding him he showed me the three pieces he had found in the bedrock along the edge of the creek. We both took off different directions to hunt some more. An hour later I met up with Chris again and while I had not found anything else he had found two more. We left within an hour after not finding any more gold. It was another pretty day in the north state, clear and maybe 75 degrees. Thanks, TRINITYAU/RAYMILLS

Hello everyone, I got out again today for a few hours of detecting. A friend Chris was with me and we were both using GB Pro's. We went to an old haunt that was very good years ago. Two other friends here on the forum should recognize the picture on the very bottom. Between the two of them they detected over a thousand pieces at this site. I hope you two are well.

Chris found the first piece, about three grains, and it turned out to be a loner for him. I found a piece of ground that was either uncovered by the recent heavy rains or just missed. The biggest of the four pieces came in a 1.3 grains. The next three were 1.2 grains, 0.9 grains and 0.4 grains. That aspirin bottle of mine was pretty heavy in the pocket coming out today. Thanks, TRINITYAU/RAYMILLS

Hello all, I got out for a few hours today and found a couple of pieces. Its always funny to me when I drive four hours, stay two days and find one piece that is four tenths of a grain. The next day home, I get up and drive ten minutes step out of the Jeep and walk several yards and tag two pieces for a gram. I was using the ole 3000/Sadie. The pieces were about six inches deep but on edge. They were still very clear signals. Thanks all, TRINITYAU/RAYMILLS

Hello all, just got back from a relaxing trip in the Mother Lode country. George and I invited a friend Chris to come with us to an old pit located high on a ridge above the American River. We met up with a few friends at the site and began to set up camp. An hour later and we were off and running. At the end of the afternoon a few of us met up to see was what was found. One fellow, Robert, had found two pieces. One piece was a bit below a gram while the other was a tad smaller. A friend, Wes, got a small earring piece right before time for him to head out. Chris had found three small crumbs and was ready for the next day to come. The rest of us had blanked. For me it was just one of those trips where I had more time laying against a boulder and watching the sky. It was relaxing.

The next morning there were just five of us.The temperature was in the high forties overnight so we did not have a freeze like I had expected. After eating we all headed out our own direction. I was still in the same frame of mind so I really did not detect much. It was a beautiful day in the high sixties to low seventies with a clear sky. I had just gotten up from another short snooze and Chris came running up the hill to show us the piece he had just found. It was a really neat piece about the size of a dime and covered with manganese oxide. After looking at it later with a loop you could see bubbles on the black. A bit later I ran into George and he had found a small earring piece. I was still chasing the skunk.

We all met up at camp later in the afternoon and decided to eat a bit and then go out again before calling it quits for the day. Chris and I went down to little stretch of flat bedrock and began hunting with our GB Pro's. In a few minutes Chris had another small one. I finally got lucky and broke the skunk with a whopping size piece that came in at four tenths of a grain. Oh well, that's the way it goes. Another friend Doug had found one decent piece that was about six or seven grains and a few smaller ones. All in all it was a great trip with friends and a bit of gold was found and I got quite a bit of rest...

Hey guys, I thought this was interesting. There are two photos to look at. The similarity blew me away. One piece I detected in Redding, CA. while the other piece was found by some means at Chicken, Alaska. The Alaskan piece came off of your facebook site Steve. I thought it was kind of neat. TRINITYAU/RAYMILLS

Hello guys, I put this on another forum a month ago. TRINITYAU/RAYMILLS

Posted 20 January 2014 - 11:40 AM

''Hello guys, Kellyco has the coil. It is not listed as a coil for the GB Pro. It is listed as a coil for the F75 and it will fit. I tried one quite a while back and it made the GB Pro too unbalanced for me to carry around. I really did not see any difference in performance when compared to the ten inch coil. If you have your ears turned on you will hear the same signals with the ten inch eliptical coil. I use my bug in very shallow ground. If the ground gets too deep I bring the 3000/Sadie out and will hear most targets. You need a combination of machines to effectively cover all ground. No one unit is going to get it all. No one coil is going to get it all. My feelings are that the Gold Bug Pro/ten inch coil combo is great. Spend some time with it and I think most will agree.

While we are talking about the GB Pro, my name came up as someone who modifies or knows about modification of the GB Pro. I do not and I see no reason for it. Mine works fantastic as it is. One tip for the ten inch coil, learn to use the main coil for more depth and the tip for extreme sensitivity. Thanks all, TRINITYAU/RAYMILLS''

Hello Cy, it is very difficult to try and narrow things down for you. The problem in trying to discuss pockets or lines is that they show up differently at different locales. I can tell you what to look for here at my location but it may be completely different where you are at. We both may have opposing geology while we may also have some similar features. When I take a person out training I try and show them what is happening on the ground. The geology of your local area may be different but the set-up in my mind is probably pretty similar anywhere. 
 
    Let me try a different approach. Lots of people are on the lookout for a contact zone. This is good but too many people read too much into it. Some will see a quartz stringer running across the surface and call it a contact zone. While this may be true to an extent there is bit more to it. The area that I am located at has a general push from the NW to the SE. This push is the general direction in which the most prevalent base material is heading. In my neck of the woods this is shale, any color shale. So, as I am walking along I am watching the ground near and afar and seeing that common trend from NW to SE. While walking I notice that there is a dike or a seam, whatever you want to call it, of a different material crossing or cutting the general trend of shale that I have been looking at. This different material can be three feet wide or thee inches wide or it can be tiny seams that are matchbook wide, does not really matter. Here in my area it is usually Granite, Diorite, or Quartz and I have even seen shale crosscutting shale. As I stated earlier what you are watching for is the odd body of material that is cutting your general trending material. 
 
    Once I have come across a location like this I slow down and try to find its limits. At times an area can be very small and precise while at other times the area could be very large, literally square acres. Let me break down (limits). When you have one material crossing another, let's say shale being crossed by diorite, most times you will have a change in the color of the immediate and surrounding area. I try to line this area out so I can determine the likely erosion path. Remember, what is the down side of a hill now might have been just opposite millions of years ago. Finding these limits can be very frustrating when you are in an area that has lots of grass and foilage. Sometimes you will have outcroppings of the crossing material and this can really help to identify a direction. This may sound way out there, but there are many types of vegetation that grow only in certain ground conditions. This too can be a possible lead to a location. Once determined what direction that erosion has taken place I start to detect. If I am on a slope I go down the hillside several hundred feet and then start back up detecting as I go. I like to zig zag across the slope until I come across that first piece. At that point I start to concentrate on that area and up the hill. Yes, there are times that I do not get a piece and I may have to change my hunt tactics and become a little more intense with my search efforts. Of course there are times that all the pieces of the puzzle come together and there still just is no gold to be found. This happened to me a lot when I first started detecting for pockets. After a few years things became clearer and began to go my way. Once on a line/pocket you can almost run it out with a compass. I am talking about a sometimes straight line that will throw detectable gold on the surface accompanied by a clay or ironstone seam. These lines or pockets occur around the contacts that I have mentioned and can be traced for miles. An interesting scenario that I encounter in my area is that a lot of the most productive areas that I have located seem to always show up on the southeast facing slopes. So much so that I tend to seek out just those slopes. 
 
    Many people are too engrossed in looking for the quartz on the surface. In my local area there is virtually no quartz at many of the locations where pockets or lines have been found. This brings me to another point. When I say pockets most people are thinking of a single location where gold has been trapped and found, such as a crevice in bedrock. Others are thinking of an enriched zone of a vein that has pocketed out and left goodies behind. What I am after when I say pockets are these lines or very small areas that run immediately below the mentioned contacts. Are they worth it ? I think they are and many of my friends have learned over the years to become "one with the dirt", and the gold starts to show up.
 
    I will say that this may just be an anomaly to the Redding,Ca area but I know that is not true. I have done the same thing in other parts of California, Nevada and Oregon. It is not easy and it can be really frustrating but it has been very rewarding for me over the years. This is a different type of hunting. I do hunt the old diggings, ground sluice operations, gullies and creeks, hardrock deposits and any other locations that the old timers worked but I like the thrill of finding gold in places where no one is looking. I hope this helps some, these are my thoughts from thousands of hours on the ground that I have hunted for pockets and lines. TRINITYAU/RAYMILLS

I really would like to say that I have not been out because it has been raining and snowing however it was almost eighty degrees today with bright sunny skies. Expected to be dry for awhile. I have started to buy up bottled water and stack it to the ceilings. We are not done yet but I like to be prepared. Being raised in this part of the country I have seen winter come late many times so I am not too worried. We have had a few years where you get all the rain and snow in about five weeks and then it is over and you are wishing you never heard the word, " winter".

I got out today with some friends for a hunt. We went to an old spot that has been hunted out, or so I have been told. I went through the normal rounds of showing the areas where I had found gold in the past and then we all split up and started detecting.

Two friends, Mark and Chris went down into a draw to try their luck. I stayed up on the flat top with two new friends, David and Wyatt, who I had taken out yesterday for a day of prospecting classes. David was using a 5000 and Wyatt, his son, was doing the digging. I had my 3000/Sadie Mono and walked out to the end of the ridge through the young but dense manzanita bushes. I had been hunting for just a few minutes when I got a nice mellow signal right in the thick brush. I had to stay standing while I dug the target out because of the brush.The signal turned out to be a nice little starter nugget about 4.4 grains. I began to detect back towards David and in just a few feet I got another real weak but soft signal, it turned out to be a 4.1 grainer. I detected for another hour and picked up several .22 rounds and an old fifty cal ball at about twenty inches, but no more gold.

I met up with David and Wyatt to find out that he had found his very first piece of gold. He was a happy camper. Being it was his first nugget I immediately took his cap off and slapped him on the head with it. After a short break we went back to hunting and in a few minutes David had his second nugget. About that time my son in-law, George, was wandering up the hill towards me. He had not found anything yet. George was using my GB Pro/five inch coil. I sent him a few yards away from my position and told him to stay close to the brush with his sweeps. In a few minutes he had his very first piece of detected gold, it was about a 15 grainer. A half an hour later I got a screamer that was an 11.6 grain piece of gold that was stuck in a dirt clod when I dropped the target on the coil. It looked like a piece of rusted tin at first. I was close to the other guys so walked over to show it off. About that time my son in-law found another little nugget that was about twelve grains just a few feet from our location. A few more sips of tea and I was off again into the manzanita where I found two more pieces in just a few minutes. One was a 7.6 grainer and the other was another 4.4 grainer.

As I was detecting I heard my close friend George talking to the other George behind me. He had his GB Pro and hunted with us for about an hour but was unable to get a piece. George was getting ready to leave when I got call and I hollered to the son in-law that we had to head out. The three of us headed towards David and his son to let them know we were leaving. They had found two more small nuggets for a total of four, not bad for the day. He had gotten his first nugget ever and three more to really give him and his son the fever. Mark and Chris were still off somewhere down a draw and I did not hear from them till they got home. Chris had found two small pieces and Mark drew the skunk card.

All in all it was good day and I was very happy to see George and David both get their first nuggets ever with a detector. Thanks all, TRINITYAU/RAYMILLS

Hello guys, first off I would like to thank Steve for a forum where I feel a bit more comfortable being able make statements about different manufacturers detectors without thinking that I may be offending several forum hosts. I have been detecting for gold for many years and do not consider myself to be on the technical side of things. I do know what my detectors are capable of and what particular scenarios I use those detectors. I am located in the extreme northwest end of California and there are lots of varied formations and geologic setups in which gold is found. The area is noted for ancient channels and their workings but I also hunt hard rock, present day placers, streambed's, old hydraulic pits, ground sluice operations. My favorite hunting scenario however is detecting for untouched surface pockets that run in lines with ironstone and clay formations.

Over the years I have used lots of detectors and have been happy with some and not happy with others. Anytime I write articles or posts anything I speak about is from my own experience.

I have been wanting to make the following statement for a while. I see so many people shelling out lots of cash for a new detector, some up to $6000.00 and while it is true some of these people have been detecting a few years but many have not. Anyone that I come across that wants to get into detecting I give the same line, get a used or cheap but adequate detector that will allow you to get a general idea of what detecting is about. I would much rather a person even borrow a detector and go out several times with someone who is somewhat knowledgeable in the field and see what it is all about. Detecting for gold is just that, detecting for gold.

Prospecting does not come in to play...

When the first Minelab detectors came years ago lots of people jumped on them because they were a simple pick up and go unit. They were really good too, LOL. My general thought is that Minelab has come full circle from a simple turn on and go analog unit to a digital nightmare (to me) that still does not net me any more gold than I get with my 3000. Many of these people did alright if someone took them out and stuck their nose in it. When an area was worked out many of those same people put those same detectors up because they had no clue on how to find (prospect) their own places to detect.Just the other day I was coming off a hill and came up to a trail where I came upon a group of people from a local college. They wanted to know what I had found with my detector.The leader, a college professor with a degree in geology, which he proudly told me, said to them, probably nothing.I had an exceptional day and whipped out close to an ounce pretty pennyweight pieces and a really nice flat eight penny nugget. He then went on to telling them that prospecting for gold is nothing that a person could not learn about in a few months. I laughed and told the group that there are well learned people from college's who are very stupid and then I walked off.

Prospecting is a continuing learning experience that will enable you to find more gold when coupled with proper detecting techniques in the area you are hunting. I cannot begin to outline prospecting in anything short of a book. I am still learning everyday.

Back to the gist of the post I would not be to quick to condemn some of the older units. I know several friends that still use them in the search for larger (multi-ounce) nuggets in particular areas where a 5000 will not come close to hearing some of the targets. 

I am always amazed at all the hype about the fine gold timings on the 5000. I use a 3000 that was modded by Ishmael years ago. Before that unit was modded I was finding the tiny pieces of gold that I have since been told could not be done, except with the fine gold timings of a 5000. I have been telling lies all these years... This to me is simply a load of crap. If you learn any of the units leading up to the ''fine gold timings" and use them on a regular basis they are just as capable of the same fine gold findings. I fully agree with Steve that you have to get out and you have to put a coil over it. I had a friend that just posted on another forum yesterday of a sub-grain piece of gold found with his new to him 3000 and it was three inches deep. I feel good to say that I have been helping him along and able to show him some hunting techniques and what some units are capable of.

I use a GB Pro as my secondary and it works very well in many varied conditions. However, the primary use is in high trash areas where there are larger pieces to be had. Between both units I cover most of my ground pretty effectively. I want to make it clear that I am not pushing any particular machine, these two are what I use. I am pushing the concept that one machine will not get all the gold all the time. No matter what units you use or decide to use it is your prospecting skills, your swing technique, your hearing and attention to detail that will prevail. Newer machines are not completely bad as they do make some things easier for some and that is all right. Learning whatever unit you are using is the most important thing on my list. They all have their own little quirks and use. OK, I have to head to work so I will leave for now. I am sure there will be a few responses when I look later. TRINITYAU/RAYMILLS

Hey Klunker, then that puts you a bit closer to me. From Cottonwood Creek north there is no problem finding gold. The general area has lots of old workings but the pay is smaller gold. This is a good panning and sluicing area. However, there are always the isolated spots that throw nuggets. The closer you get to Igo and Ono, past the Bald Hills, then you are starting to see ancient channel from the North Fork of Cottonwood Creek and Clear Creek. This channel is deep and shallow at different locations. There are some barren hillsides that just have a few washed and round cobble lying around and others that have old stream gravels all over. Some have detectable nuggets while others do not. Further north into the Clear Creek country you will start to find more diggings, large and small scattered here and there. From Clear Creek to the big dam on Shasta you will find coarse detectable gold, The gold shows up on the east side of the Sacramento but more heavily on the west all the way to Trinity County. In this area you will find hard rock deposits that generally carry finer gold down in the valley. As you start to hit the hills you could encounter some nice rough and sizable gold with a detector.This gold is not to be confused with the gold from the ancient Sacramento flows, of which can be small to very large and usually beat smooth. You also have ironstone lines that throw very coarse gold all over the same areas. Most of the gold I get is from these lines. They can be found all over and can run from a few feet to several hundred yards. This is different country than most folks expect to see gold being detected in. The brush is very thick and low. We have more than our share of rattlesnakes during the heat. It is not uncommon for me to come across fifty or so in a season and this is usually almost face to face. There are some open areas and I concentrate on those during the hotter months. This should help you a bit. As I said earlier shoot me a PM when you get closer. If you will give me a location of where you will actually be I can give you more than general information. TRINITYAU/RAYMILLS

    Steve, yes my 3000 was modded by Ishmael many years back and it gets grainer's at a few inches as well as pennyweight nuggets at 16 to 18 inches, sometimes more. I don't know what I will do if it ever decides to up and quit on me. I really believe in the 3000 series. I don't care what anyone says, I like my analog opposed to digital. I also think the 3000 was and is the best Minelab gold detector by far. To me it is still the easiest to operate. Minelab has come full circle in my way of thinking with a simple turn on and go gold detector (3000) compared to the 5000 with all its myriad of settings, and I still do with my 3000 what they say the 5000 will do, sometimes better. They started out with a simple machine that worked and advanced to a machine that still works but with one hell of a learning curve and it cost a few more cents. To me it is kind of funny.

    Klunker, E, NE of Red Bluff is the Lassen country, heavily volcanic. There are areas beyond Mt Lassen, north and south that have good gold districts. The closest area you will be near is Shasta County, the Redding area where I am located. I have a few places that I go to that are up past Lassen but you are talking 3 to 4 hours of driving. If you look on a map and locate Butts Resevoir just below Lake Almanor there are many locations to prospect. This is a large area that offers  hardrocking,drywashing, detecting, panning, sluicing and sniping. Most of the area drains into the Feather River. As I stated earlier it is not as close as I would like it to be. Shoot me a PM when you get a bit closer and maybe we can get together. TRINITYAU/RAYMILLS

Hello all, I met up with Matt today for a hunt and to get him set up on his new detector. He got himself a pretty clean and used 3000 with stock coil. After going over some stuff and setting the detector up we were on our way. Today's hunt was a bit slower than the last time we were together. I tried some different areas and did not get my first piece till early in the afternoon. Matt got a nice two gram plus an hour or so into the hunt. The smaller piece I got is kind of an odd piece as you can see in the pictures. I thought at first I had found part of a piece of gold jewelry but after cleaning it off I could tell that it was native gold. It came in at a half a gram. My second nugget came about an hour later and is 9.71 grams. It was about eighteen inches deep. I was using the 3000 with the Sadie coil. All in all it was a good day and Matt is getting a handle on his 3000. He will have to post a picture of his nugget, it was a pretty one too. Thanks all, TRINITYAU/RAYMILLS

Congratulations Steve, glad to be a member. TRINITYAU/RAYMILLS