Photos: Prospects of hitting pay dirt increase with Golden State drought

Members of the White Water Prospectors look over their sluice while standing in the Kern River in Bakersfield to see if any gold has appeared.   (Genaro Molina / Los Angeles Times)

Members of the White Water Prospectors from Porterville, Calif., pan for gold in the Kern River in Bakersfield.  (Genaro Molina / Los Angeles Times)

David Fiori, left, spends a light moment with his wife, Yvonne, while Lewis O’Dell and his uncle Jay O’Dell look for a spot to pan for gold. “It’s a Catch-22 as far as the drought,” Yvonne Fiori said. “We don’t want to be happy about it, but we are, to an extent.”   (Genaro Molina / Los Angeles Times)

Brock O’Dell, left, 12, and his cousin Anthony O’Dell, 23, sit in a shallow part of the Kern River while panning for gold in Bakersfield.   (Genaro Molina / Los Angeles Times)

Mike Fraley, 58, of Porterville pans for gold along the banks of the Kern River in Bakersfield. “I can go for a bunch more,” he said after finding a flake of gold, though expressing a preference for nuggets.  (Genaro Molina / Los Angeles Times)

In their quest for gold, some prospectors use the panning method, left, while others use a sluice.   (Genaro Molina / Los Angeles Times)

White Water Prospector George Hanson, 54, shows a vial containing flakes of gold that he panned from the Kern River in Bakersfield.   (Genaro Molina / Los Angeles Times)

Clayton Cook, left, watches fellow prospectors Jay O’Dell, his nephew Lewis O’Dell and Lewis’ son Brock pan for gold in the Kern River.   (Genaro Molina / Los Angeles Times)

Jay O’Dell walks through the Kern River in search of a good place to set up his sluice to mine for gold.   (Genaro Molina / Los Angeles Times)