Hi Chuck,
I have dredged Peshastin many times and the water is cold but the gold is big and chunky. You are right that you cannot replace the silt into the spot it came from but why would you need to? The boulders tend to congregate in patches where the water scours out the fines and this is where the gold collects and the dredging takes place. In other places where the bottom is gravelly is where the fish spawn and also where the gold does not collect. Silt is found in varying quantities through the stream bed profile and it along with gravel and smaller boulders are put into constant motion each winter. A stream is very dynamic and is constantly moving. If I dredged a big hole in the stream in July, you would be very hard pressed to find it the next spring.

If it doesn't feel right then you should not do it. However, I would encourage you to evaluate the impact you have against the normal impact of runoff. In the overall stream bed, the activity of a few dredges is insignificant.

I have never tried to dredge up a fish but I have know some who have tried....very aggressively and with large capacity dredges to catch some, In all the years I have been doing this you are the first person that admitted to being able to do this, this fish are simply too fast. I can say that I have suctioned up whole beer cans and watched them exit the sluice without a single dent or scratch.