Unexpected find

[casper]

Was at a new spot in a creek in the upper Yarra Goldfield and was 1/2 a metre down and into the clay creek bottom and found these black gems - at first i thought I'd found the remains of an old greek prospectors lunch or an aboriginal midden but no!.... intact ones were now coming up with every shovel full. Have just done some research and they're Alathyria jacksoni aka river mussels. All were returned to the stream.
I was up there getting some wash dirt to trial my clean up sluice Mk V and came back with 4 litres of 3mm puddled and classified material to run thru the sluice tomorrow.

casper

 

[Goldtarget]

These were in abundance at the lake i grew up beside. Spent a few summers digging these up and having a bit of feed after smoking them. Not a bad bit of meat if done properly. Just got hungry thinking about them.

 

[Teemore]

Not uncommon at Malmsbury Res. either although I'm not sure about their presence since the drought.
Not sure about eating them considering the mud they live in, maybe a bit like pippies you have to let them purge themselves of the mud and grit.
Cheers Tom

 

[spottedgum]

A good feed. Teach a man to prospect and he eats for a lifetime!

 

[Paydirt]

We used to dig big ones ( 10cm+) from the Wilson river at Buoyung as scouts back in the day. Dunno if I'd eat them if from old mining areas - Hg, As and other nasties

 

[20x]

Was at a new spot in a creek in the upper Yarra Goldfield and was 1/2 a metre down and into the clay creek bottom and found these black gems - at first i thought I'd found the remains of an old greek prospectors lunch or an aboriginal midden but no!.... intact ones were now coming up with every shovel full. Have just done some research and they're Alathyria jacksoni aka river mussels. All were returned to the stream.
I was up there getting some wash dirt to trial my clean up sluice Mk V and came back with 4 litres of 3mm puddled and classified material to run thru the sluice tomorrow.

casper

https://www.prospectingaustralia.com/forum/img/member-images/562/1399026397_picture_22.png

wicked, have you had a crack at catching the massive crays there?

 

[casper]

Was at a new spot in a creek in the upper Yarra Goldfield and was 1/2 a metre down and into the clay creek bottom and found these black gems - at first i thought I'd found the remains of an old greek prospectors lunch or an aboriginal midden but no!.... intact ones were now coming up with every shovel full. Have just done some research and they're Alathyria jacksoni aka river mussels. All were returned to the stream.
I was up there getting some wash dirt to trial my clean up sluice Mk V and came back with 4 litres of 3mm puddled and classified material to run thru the sluice tomorrow.

casper

https://www.prospectingaustralia.com/forum/img/member-images/562/1399026397_picture_22.png

wicked, have you had a crack at catching the massive crays there?

hmmmmm! didn't know there was crays up there, anyways... my "bunnings sluice" reduced 4 litres of the classified washdirt to 250ml of concentrates which i panned off and ended up with 4 or so teaspoons of black and zircon sands - and one speck of gold - OKAY NO LAUGHING eh!

Going by the amount of black sand recovered I'm confident that if i was digging in the right spot the sluice woulda caught all gold

I'll put up DIY post for the sluice soon.

casper

 

[TenOunce Tone]

Best thing I have found are Land Crabs in the South Palmer River... I will take a photo next time I find one! 100 km from the coast and not a salty brine anywhere to be found!

 

[20x]

Was at a new spot in a creek in the upper Yarra Goldfield and was 1/2 a metre down and into the clay creek bottom and found these black gems - at first i thought I'd found the remains of an old greek prospectors lunch or an aboriginal midden but no!.... intact ones were now coming up with every shovel full. Have just done some research and they're Alathyria jacksoni aka river mussels. All were returned to the stream.
I was up there getting some wash dirt to trial my clean up sluice Mk V and came back with 4 litres of 3mm puddled and classified material to run thru the sluice tomorrow.

casper

https://www.prospectingaustralia.com/forum/img/member-images/562/1399026397_picture_22.png

wicked, have you had a crack at catching the massive crays there?

hmmmmm! didn't know there was crays up there, anyways... my "bunnings sluice" reduced 4 litres of the classified washdirt to 250ml of concentrates which i panned off and ended up with 4 or so teaspoons of black and zircon sands - and one speck of gold - OKAY NO LAUGHING eh!

Going by the amount of black sand recovered I'm confident that if i was digging in the right spot the sluice woulda caught all gold

I'll put up DIY post for the sluice soon.

casper

gold is gold buddy and the amount doesn't matter...get into it

ps...

catch them the same way as yabbys in a dam, piece of meat(no fat so sinks) and a small sinker, bit of fishing line tied to a stick on the bank,(go prospecting), landing net with really long handle, pull em in slowly and place net behind and bingo...bag limit is 5...there are min and maximum lengths...awesome feed

 

[The Golden Pick]

wish we could catchem ova here in sa

 

[MDH]

wish we could catchem ova here in sa

If you're ever close to the vic/sa border the biggest crays I've seen have come out of the glenelg. When I was about 15 fishing for mulloway I caught 2 on mullet fillets that were in excess of 2kg a piece.

 

[nuggetino]

The murray cray does live in the upper reaches of them murray river. I've never caught one in SA. Water may be too dirty for them at this end. I'd love to know more about those freshwater mussels. Find tonnes of them in the muddy flats along the murray. Cooked them up and they tasted like mud (no surprise) Figure next time I might need to purge them in freshwater for a few days? Any more suggestions how to prepare these suckers? Smoking does sound a good idea as I'm a fan of the smoked mussels they sell at the supermarket.

 

[Goldtarget]

Perhaps I should make mention these mussels can be hit and miss, take in a bad one and I'm sure you'll never forget how bad it made you feel, watched a bloke cook one once in a campfire and got pretty green around the gills for a few days. They will survive a few weeks after taking them out of the mud, and they tend to go a bit better and survive longer in summer. Just put then in a yrib and change the water every day for at least three days, they open up to see the fleshy parts and squirt water out if they are still good. Shell them, and smoke them like any other meat (you'll need a smoke box or shed) all that said p please check in advance with the relative authorities the requirements for collection. I'm not sure of legality.