Checking where the Water Slows

Remember that all kinds of pocket placers are produced where the water slows down. When looking for bedrock placers it is suggested to keep in mind the different speeds of stream water. A bedrock placer often times cannot be found by the way the water slows at normal level.

You should try to picture what the stream at any point when it was in the flood stage looked like by trying to determine how high the water was at that point. A little trick in doing this is by checking for water lines in any area of the stream. After you have done this compare your observation with the actual level and this should help give you a good idea of where the gold was deposited. Make sure to keep in mind that in this case we are talking about bedrock placers and not only deposition but also retention and accumulation are very vital aspects here.

Searching in Curves and Bends
Even though you may be under the impression that the inside curves of a bend is the place where water slows, this is not actually always so. Unfortunately there are a lot of people that give the impression that all a person has to do is located a stream and follow the inside bends and the gold flakes and nuggets run along a well defined path down the stream, and this is not always so.