New Zealand Gold Fossicking Forums

I'm playing with the idea of having a little go at sniping for gold next weekend. Never done it before and was wondering if anyone has any tips they'd like to pass on?

I have a couple of wetsuits for surfing - my simple 3,2 summer wettie and my much warmer 4,3 feature packed winter wettie. I'm thinking the 3,2 should be warm enough? Though I guess inland river / stream water could be a lot colder as coming off the mountains. And I guess it depends on the river - depth, speed, etc. What do you guys tend to go with?

Do you tend to go with a weight belt so you can hold breath and get down to deeper spots easier, or tend just to float around on top scratching around in shallower areas?

Anyone bother with fins, or again is it more of a shallow scratching where booties are probably more useful?

What sort of stuff do you look out for to identify a good spot? I'm guessing waterways where decent chunks of bed rock are clearly accessible?

Anyone want to join me for a go? Always a bit more fun with some company!

Thanks in advance for any tips anyone can pass along!
Gav :)

Cheers gingerbreadman - I'd be pretty gutted if I killed my wettie so the knee pad tip is handy! On a mission to find a cheap hood before next weekend now!

Cheers starfish :) Got a snorkel and mask so no probs there. Might give my winter wettie a go as keeps me super warm in surf winter time, so might be up to the job even though not quite as thick as you recommend. Only one way to find out. Was originally thinking summer wettie would do it, but sounds a little foolish now! :P

A few of my surfy mates just take a leak in their wettie - could provide a bit of warmth I guess, but a practice I've definitely been avoiding! :P

I'm sure it can't be good for the wettie and probably smells a bit after a while!

POOOO....Nothing worse than the stink of a pissed in wettie. Not recomended.

Happy hunting

JW :)

i wear a two piece with waist high pants so taking a leak is not a prob, mind you when your hands are so knumb it feels like they have been cut off, even undoing the velco is near impossible. rule to live by- never piss in your suit the bacteria never comes out and as nzgold says the smell gets worse and worse then after a while the last thing you want to do is put it back on!. you can get a pee tube sewn in which works really well, mind you generally for a 9mm when its too cold to drop your pants!

kiwijw sells some sucker pumps that work well for geting into those crevices, at least i think he still makes them?

yep thats an inportant question, the problem is you can not stay negitive boyant within say ten feet unless you have an enormous amount of lead. actually with a 5mm suit you wont achive nutural boyancy with say a 10kg belt untill your 5metres or 17 feet down, most of the time you will be restricted to just beyond an arms length.

if you want to get into the deeper water say beyond four feet you will need a lot of lead, or a mate to hold you down, or force fed air and heaps of lead.

if you notice the pro dredgers they have large belts and force fed air(hookah systems)

so really sniping is limited to shallow depths im afraid

I wouldn't recommend carrying a lead weight belt in, you won't bring it out!! I think kenne Eng makes dredges and such in the states, has a thing called a sand belt, just like a weight belt but with larger pockets, holds about 50lbs, should be easy to make one, just fill it up when you get to where your going. P.S I talked to a guy at crown minerals one time about using a hookah system up moonlight westland, and because it's not mining gear only air supply he seemed to think it would be ok. I haven't tested this yet though.

nathanial, doc was right there is nothing ilegal about snorkling in a stream even with a hookah system, it is considered a past time, they cannot say that sniping is mining as there is no proof of what you are doing underwater. you could say you are doing a personal trout survey.

butttt the battery hookah system is a heavy and expensive unit, and if your going in any distance you will want to take more than one battery. 1 battery =abouts 2hrs. if you can get the car close you take several batteries to last the day.

sand belt is a good idea, i have tramped a lead belt in before and wil never never never do it again so help me god!!!

Haven't had a go yet - did plan to as noticed a deep pool in spring when exploring a gorge. Went back late summer with wetsuits to try it out and found the river had completely filled the pool in with gravel so could now walk over it! Was good though as wetsuits let me and a buddy push up the gorge a long way and find some nice colour anyway ;) Just didn't need to use the snorkels. Didn't have a hood though so reckon I'd be suffering an ice cream headache in no time!