Hi everybody.
I have a dilemma what sluice to get. Grizzly Gold Trap or Gold Hog (or any other stream sluice). What I like about Grizzly is that I can get away with not classifying dirt and just shovel into it. At the same time how often cleanouts should be done? Every 5-10-15 buckets? How good it's at catching fine gold? Is it easier or harder to setup compared to regular stream sluices? Is there stream sluice on the market with grizzly bars? Just want to know your opinion and personal preferences.
I had a Bazooka, which the GGT is designed from. Liked it, but the improvements made to the GGT make it much better. But as DD mentioned above, you do need a spot with decent flow to set it up in. After that, you can shovel away for a couple hours between cleanouts.
I've test panned my tailings numerous times and rarely find a speck. Losses are insignificant, even with Colorado skeeter poop.
No perfect sluice for every situation, but if you're able to shovel straight out of the creek in to your sluice, or close enough to fill a bucket and feed it that way, it is my go to!
You'd probably be more happy with an Angus or Le trap in that little creek. The gold trap sluices can be really finicky in small streams and aren't near as versatile or easy to use imo.
For lower flow situations, I absolutely love my Angus Mackirk. It catches the finest of the fines. I agree with johnny.
What are you looking for in a sluice? That might narrow it down. The two most important factors that I consider are ease of setup and clean out. I like something I can set down, put a rock on it and start shoveling, then clean it out with an easy rinse or two all while having faith that I'm catching the gold.
Gold trap sluices are easy to clean out but more work to set up especially in shallow or low pressure water. It doesn't help to shovel in unless you can be NEXT to the sluice. If you shovel from upstream the dirty water will flow into your sluice and clog your tubes with sediments in no time and you need fairly clean water. If you shovel from downstream you are rerunning your tailings.
Gold Hog sluices are old technology with riffle bars and miners moss and require disassembly to clean out and it's slow and heavy. No reason for that anymore imo.
I recommended le trap or Angus for their overall speed and ease of use. The one piece drop riffle designs are lightweight and effective and there's never much drama in setup. I don't even classify much except for clearing out the biggest stones with my hand, and they require much less water
Everyone has their faves but that's what I tend to go with these days.
I've tried out a few different styles of gold trap sluices in the last few years and when they shine they shine. I've also spent half an hour trying to set one up in small water and said a cussword or two haha. They work well in certain conditions.
The creek on my claim is about identical with yours and I'd say the drop riffle styles give you the most benefits for the money. Hope this helps.
Good luck to you!
Thanks. Well, I want easy setup and if possible eliminate classification in order to be able to move more dirt. Ideally just being able to feed shovel after shovel. From what you are saying I might go with Angus, Le Trap looks too bulky or maybe Angus and Grizzly, there couple spots on the creek where Grizzly will sit well.
Any of the Angus sluices are your best bet for slow water. You can run them flat and slow and they'll catch gold all day long!
Looks like you've got slow and fast water, so you either need 2 tools or get one and focus on working the area you prioritize.
If it was me I'd get a big Angus and skip the gold trap for now. They are expensive and you probably won't need it. You can basically shovel into a big Angus with the drop riffles, just pull out the biggest rocks or classify to 1 inch. If your getting into GOOD GOLD BEARING CLAYS you will want to classify to break it up anyway.....like a cheese grater. You can also dig upstream from it and not clog up the tubes. That's another advantage of the le trap also, just it's size, and shoveling in is usually fine. With drop riffles the bigger rocks will roll right out and doesn't affect the trapped gold unlike raised riffles can when rocks get hung up.
The gold traps seem faster but you're just running low grade material by running everything. You'll also have more tailings to deal with in the creek instead of getting them out of the way.
You want the majority of your tailings out of your creek for future digging so your not running the same material over and over and that means out of the creek bed. In a small creek like that you should try to keep the "in creek" tailings to a minimum when you can.
Sometimes there isn't a better way and it just takes some time to do but any tailings you have to deal with takes time from the gold. Every digging situation is different and I'm no expert but that's what I've learned. Mucking your own tailings out of the way sucks haha. Sometimes unavoidable.
I've also been using a 6 ft-14# San Angelo bar for loosening up the creek bed. I'd count on your creek bed being hard packed for sure. It's a tool that has single handedly made my life much easier in the hard pack and it's an aggressive tool.
Looks like a beautiful creek!
Most (all?) Angus sluices have cross bars, so you're not going to be able to shovel unclassified. First big rock that hangs up on them is gonna blow out the riffles above and below it.
I was referring to the drop riffles like the foreman model and those bigger ones. The rocks will slide right down those but avoid the raised riffles like the gold hog style. The drop riffles protect the gold much better and are smoother for rocks to roll down. Raised riffles can collect rocks easier. Sluice boxes have taken big leaps since molded plastic is more widely used.
Only their two smallest sluices don't have crossbars. the rest, like the Foreman do. Only around an inch clearance, so working them unclassified isn't an option.
http://www.carolinaprospectors.net/Angus_MacKIrk_Sluices_Dredges_s/44.htm
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