Back To My Sierra Patch

[Gold Catcher]

I headed back to my Sierra patch to see if it was still worth swinging. The patch still had gold in it. Ran the 6000 at full manual gain, Normal mode, with the NF 12x7 coil and headset on. All the nuggets were faint whispers, the larger ones buried over 1.5 feet deep. The ground was impressively clean—almost every target was gold. Only three pieces of trash showed up the entire afternoon.

Dirty as found:

:

Cleaned with just water:

My day's haul:

For the new prospectors on DP: Patches like this are rare in the U.S., and finding them took me years of trial, error, and refining my detecting skills. Early on, I found little to no gold—most days I went home empty-handed. My advice: stay persistent, get to know your machine, and most importantly, don’t get discouraged if you come up short. Even now I often get nothing, especially when exploring new ground. DP has been an incredible source of knowledge over the years, and I encourage you to learn from the many experienced detectorists on this forum. Enjoy the time outdoors, treat each outing as a win, and aim to learn just a little more about your detector every day. Don’t give up. There’s still gold out there—bigger ones too, as the picture shows.

GC

[flakmagnet]

I was wondering when you'd get back to work up there. Nice going. I have seen you at work and am not surprised to see your successes. You have been focused on this hobby for years and what you are finding is not luck.

 

[Gold Catcher]

4 minutes ago, flakmagnet said:

I was wondering when you'd get back to work up there. Nice going. I have seen you at work and am not surprised

to see your successes. You have been focused on this hobby for years and what you are finding is not luck.

 

Thank you for the kind words, David. Coming from someone with your depth of experience and decades of success, it truly means a lot. Someone told me the wolf packs are back in Sierra County—that gave me a little pause.🤨

GC

[Wild Bill]

Nice work!  Excellent advice and if that pile on the scale doesn’t stir the imagination?  Sierra County, such a spectacular history.  Rivaling any place in the world when it comes to big gold finds!   Very encouraging.  

[Gold Catcher]

18 minutes ago, Wild Bill said:

Nice work!  Excellent advice and if that pile on the scale doesn’t stir the imagination?  Sierra County, such a spectacular history.  Rivaling any place in the world when it comes to big gold finds!   Very encouraging.  

Thanks, WB—Sierra County has so much to offer beyond the stunning scenery. After years of hiking and exploring with my SDC always tucked in my pack, I finally stumbled on a patch like this. You can master every detecting technique out there, but if there’s no gold beneath the coil, then you just won't find anything. And finding a spot like this is pure luck.  In prospecting, I’ve always believed in the old saying: ‘"The harder I work, the luckier I get", especially in areas that you know are gold bearing. So, research is a must. Good luck to you out there and have fun!

GC 

[geof_junk]

Now comes the hard work. Gridding an area many time larger around the patch, for maybe very little or maybe heaps more than you have found. I have done this many times with good results but also no gold for a week of gridding. All the best at your patch.

[King-Of-Bling]

10% of the fishermen catch 90% of the fish.

[Gold Catcher]

41 minutes ago, King-Of-Bling said:

10% of the fishermen catch 90% of the fish.

For long time I belonged to the other 90% who only got 10% of the fish (if any). But I learned a lot and so can anyone else who puts in the effort. The fish are still out there, and the many excellent threads and tutorials on DP will show you how to get them. 🤠

GC

[Greenhorn]

15 hours ago, Gold Catcher said:

I headed back to my Sierra patch to see if it was still worth swinging. The patch still had gold in it. Ran the 6000 at full manual gain, Normal mode, with the NF 12x7 coil and headset on. All the nuggets were faint whispers, the larger ones buried over 1.5 feet deep. The ground was impressively clean—almost every target was gold. Only three pieces of trash showed up the entire afternoon.

Dirty as found:

:

Cleaned with just water:

My day's haul:

For the new prospectors on DP: Patches like this are rare in the U.S., and finding them took me years of trial, error, and refining my detecting skills. Early on, I found little to no gold—most days I went home empty-handed. My advice: stay persistent, get to know your machine, and most importantly, don’t get discouraged if you come up short. Even now I often get nothing, especially when exploring new ground. DP has been an incredible source of knowledge over the years, and I encourage you to learn from the many experienced detectorists on this forum. Enjoy the time outdoors, treat each outing as a win, and aim to learn just a little more about your detector every day. Don’t give up. There’s still gold out there—bigger ones too, as the picture shows.

GC

That is impressive. For me that has found only a couple of flyspecks after 2 years in on my new hobby detecting this is motivational. Thanks for taking the time to post. I have removed lot of metal trash from the environment, have learned a bit about geology, a bit about metal detectors, picked up a catalog of online tools, and have gained an appreciation for how much hard work the old-timers did. Being time limited due to work and being based in SoCal am slowly working my way around the local gold areas with the general Randsburg area being the main focus.