Under Water Gold Prospecting

[Gold Catcher]

How many of you have done underwater gold prospecting with the SDC2300 or other water proof detectors? I have never done this but I start entertaining the idea. I am curious to know what experiences you guys have had. As an inspiration I have attached the Youtube clip below. Although he was not metal detecting this video is well done and entertaining. 

GC

 

[Norvic]

Wow, that is a magic vid. Aye I look forward to your posts GC showing your journey through underwater detecting. I have nil experience but I recall stories from an old timer long gone who did such in some wet tropic streams coming down from the Tableland to my east, he had a number of spoons he`d shaped to get into those crevasses but don`t think he used a suction bottle, such a simple device that certainly would be a time saver. I`d done some suction dredging way back before it was declared illegal and that was strenuous hard work but certainly magic to see the nuggets as you sucked them up.

Go for it GC.

[phrunt]

I have a Keene A23 crevice sucker pump that works wonders, you can suck gold out of places you couldn't get very easily at all without it.

It was worth every cent as it's helped a lot with difficult underwater gold recovery.

You could probably make one yourself too, pretty simple device.

[Gold Seeker]

You blokes down under have "yabby pumps" which will work to suck up gold!!

[phrunt]

Yabbie pumps tend to have a giant opening to suck up sand/the yabbie.    I tried mine first and it sucked for the job, people make attachments to stick on the end of them to make them more like a crevice pump though

 

[Gold Seeker]

7 minutes ago, phrunt said:

Yabbie pumps tend to have a giant opening to suck up sand/the yabbie.    I tried mine first and it sucked for the job, people make attachments to stick on the end of them to make them more like a crevice pump though

 

Exactly all you need is to make an simple attachment, but the yabby pump is basically the same as a Gold Sucker tube.

I have several gold suckers, some I have made and others I bought and all of them have different size tips/attachments depending on what type/size of material I'm sucking up.

[Gold Catcher]

1 hour ago, Norvic said:

Wow, that is a magic vid. Aye I look forward to your posts GC showing your journey through underwater detecting. I have nil experience but I recall stories from an old timer long gone who did such in some wet tropic streams coming down from the Tableland to my east, he had a number of spoons he`d shaped to get into those crevasses but don`t think he used a suction bottle, such a simple device that certainly would be a time saver. I`d done some suction dredging way back before it was declared illegal and that was strenuous hard work but certainly magic to see the nuggets as you sucked them up.

Go for it GC.

Thanks, my friend. I am not quite there yet but am thinking about it. I have never dredged or done anything more than just sluicing or panning. But I know some snipers who are quite successful in the rivers up here. But hunting with a metal detector fully submerged is something else that I would need to learn and practice. Who knows, I might hate it. ? Also, I wonder how waterproof the SDC really is and whether it would actually survive fully submerged for longer periods of time. I still remember what happened to my first "waterproof" Samsung smartphone when I took it into the pool... 

GC 

[Lanny]

It's a rush to find gold underwater while fanning with the hand and recovering it with some sort of suction device/gold sucker bottle. I've found some nice nuggets that way, and I've also used a waterproof detector while at it which has helped me find nuggets as well that I'd have missed by hand-fanning, ones deeper in cracks and crevices. (I spent several seasons dredging as well, but that's a different story.)

Sweet little video of some nice gold recovery through underwater sniping (thanks for posting), and if you decide to try it, know the temperature of the water you'll be hunting in and make sure to have a thick enough wetsuit and hood especially if the water is cold, no point in being miserable or getting hypothermia. (Our streams are so cold you get brain-freeze without a thick hood, and warm gloves are also necessary along with warm neoprene boots.) Oh, and get a proper sniping/crevicing tool as well, a screwdriver works in a pinch, but it can't root out the gold like a made-to-purpose sniping tool.

All the best,

Lanny

[phrunt]

Yes I use a couple of things, a proper crevicing tool along with some automotive hooks

I don't do diving style water stuff, just creeks where I rarely get past my hips in depth and just use my Nox for the waterproof detector, although I prefer the Garrett 24k as it handles my creeks hotrocks better.  I just try to not get it wet.