Gold Panning

[Lotech]

With some of the streams and rivers in my area, (and dry washes) I'm wondering if panning for gold might be combined with a fishing trip. Of course I'd have to check into the legality, but I'm wondering if it might add an extra attraction to some trips. Anybody here ever give it a try? Heck, if you get really lucky it might pay for the trip.

[herefishy]

I fish the Arkansas in Colorado, and there is always panning going on, and sometimes sophisticated dredging, with strange people in scuba gear rising out of the water. It is said to be somewhat productive. The plus side is that there are clubs that lease water for panning, that don't mind having fishermen around.

[AllenOK]

Look into the GPAA. Ever watch "Gold Fever" on TV??? That's the group.

[Lotech]

Look into the GPAA. Ever watch "Gold Fever" on TV??? That's the group.

I used to watch it all the time, but I haven't seen it in a while. But ever since retirement, we aren't getting any of the premium programs with our TV provider.

[sandfly]

I just started takin a pan with me..

[Byron haugh]

I did see an episode on some Game Warden program in which they cited someone for damaging redds and streambed for putting a lot of dirt in the stream. Maybe he was bringing dirt to the streamed to pan it. Not sure.

[Lotech]

If you're panning in Washington State, you have to have the pamphlet of the regulations for panning in your possession. Those pamphlets are your license to pan in some of the streams and rivers where allowed. Those pamphlets are distributed by the WDFW and are designed with regs to protect fish and habitat. I'm not sure, but I think the penalty for violation is up to $5000 and a year in jail. Washington State takes fish and fisheries seriously.

[Silver Creek]

Do you really want to be digging up the bottom of a trout stream?

[Lotech]

Do you really want to be digging up the bottom of a trout stream?

Of course not. Tertiary or dry wash ravines would be fine.

[John Rhoades]

We have lots of recreational gold mining opportunities, as well as some commercial mining nearby where I spend the summer on the Yellowstone River in MT. In the past I have taken a gold pan with me when I'm fishing, however now I rarely mix the 2 since both are available literally right out my back door.

My son, grandson and I went exploring far up Emigrant Gulch one day last summer which is just across the Yellowstone River from me. Gold was discovered there in about 1862, and until WWII there was lots of mining going on there, including the largest open pit gold mine dredging in the state of Montana. With the recent high gold price, a couple small scale mines had begun in the last year or two, exactly like those on the popular TV series, Gold Rush. We watched one of them digging away part of the mountain side as we passed by, and we did some panning ourselves farther up the gulch. We may have found a small flake or two, but that's all. My grandson had fun though, and he took home a couple sizable rocks that he believed were gold and silver!