Do you have a case of “Yellow Fever”? With gold prices consistently high, more and more people are out searching for that wondrous yellow metal. Gold has always captured the imagination of mankind. Read more about gold and its history HERE (link to wikipedia). Fisher (of metal detecting fame) recently released several gold prospecting/panning kits. Now, I’m first to admit it, I’m a TOTAL NOVICE when it comes to gold panning! However, like most who first venture into prospecting, I’ve done a ton of research about how to “get started”. Youtube can be a wonderful thing for learning panning techniques! Below, you will find my review of Fisher’s new Gold Prospecting Kits and my experiences as a new guy trying to learn a new art… (Click “read more” to…well, read more!)
There seems to be something of a modern day gold rush around the globe! A foundering world economy tends to stimulate the value of precious metals…and one metal that has been consistently desired is gold. Fisher Labs, a long-time manufacturer of metal detectors, has released gold prospecting kits that are complete enough for both pro level and novice prospectors! Fisher offers three varieties of the kits.
The directions included with the kits are great at helping you to get your feet wet in the the art of panning (pun intended). They are written in a humorous style by “Yukon Dick” who gives pointers and methods to gold hunting, especially the panning aspect.
My background is predominantly metal detecting, but the sense of wonder and mystery involved in searching for mysteries still applies to panning. “Will I have a flake or two in this pan?” while swirling the muddy water around feels a whole lot like “Will I walk over an old coin on this trip?”…no doubt about it.
My first “real” panning adventure involved a local creek where, admittedly, expectations were pretty low. The creek had the benefit of being close by and my main objective was learning to apply technique learned from watching Youtube and reading the included guide. Let me tell you…gold panning “in the wild” is work! However, it’s also FUN! Actually over the course of a couple of hours, I began to truly understand the techniques involved and the process began getting faster and faster. I was producing black sand in the bottom of my pan which is considered a good sign…finally, after getting a shovel full of material in a spot that my internet research indicated should be a good “natural” sluice type spot, I found my first gold flake! Yep…it was tiny, and it was alone, but MAN! I found GOLD! You would have thought I just heard my number called out in the lottery! This most definitely an extremely addictive hobby…I highly recommend it to my friends who also enjoy metal detecting. A lot of similarities are there…and who knows? With the high prices of gold these days, you may just find a spot that makes you a little money!
You can read the manual for Fisher Gold Pan Kits here: www.fisherlab.com/hobby/manuals/ProspectingCtl-READER.pdf Adobe reader required.
