THeres gold 'round here, I have a few claims in the hills. Not a lot, but it's there. I have the claim below the Sooke Potholes if anyone wants to give it a go, in fact, I may be letting it go this spring as I have too much ground to work (PM me for details), the Sooke River is a good bet. I have claims up near Leechtown, but the real gold is further up near Vallentine Mtn.. DOn't pan within 3 miles of LEechtown, all claimed up (Some of it mine) .KMS Tools has the black Estwig pans for $15, they are the best. The metal ones are crap. I know a guy in his 80's that gets the odd granola sized nugget from just upstream of the Potholes. In the Sooke, you want to be up sampling way up from the river (5-20 feet!), I found some 40 feet above the water about 3 weeks ago!.
Avoid the flat shale rocks, avoid sand, they settle long after the gold. While you work your pan, if your pan water is not dark brown muddy, move on. Becrock cracks are where you want to be, and at the end of the day, a handfull of moss or roots will usually leave some gold, but please, don't rip up the foliage. Stick to inside corners, and the canyons are damn dangerous, stay out.
IF anyone wants to pan, a lot of guys do up the Potholes park, just dont' make a mess. You can't sluice in a river, but you can sluice 3M from the waterline with use of a pump, but you need a claim for that.
I've hit it hard this last couple of years, it's a lot of fun. Forget panning guides, here are some good days panning the island, and you can join VIPMA
www.vipma.ca (I'm a member) to get access to claims on the Leech River, as well as clearance to use TImber West Forest roads to get to the good gold...