As I expanded the hole upstream about three feet, two small brook trout came within inches of my face to gobble up the dislodged caddis larvae. Our first cleanup, by necessity, came just an hour into the dredging. All of the riffles were packed to the lip with black sand. Twenty pounds of magnetite, garnets, and we hoped, auriferous tidbits filled the plastic tub. I liked our odds.
Arrows point to Willow Creek.
Reprinted with permission. The cold water took its toll on us and we did a final cleanup in the late afternoon. As the mosquitoes enjoyed an early supper, I surveyed the fifty pounds of cons that Leonard and I had recovered. I was optimistic about the fine gold content of the tub, but Leonard lamented the lack of visible gold in the head of the box. We decided to move downstream in the morning.