Using the right tool for the job

Your choice of metal detector for beach or water hunting is very important, and hopefully you gave some thought towards what you are searching for.
I used to spend the majority of my metal detecting time searching for old silver treasure coins at the Spanish 1715 fleet shipwreck beaches along the Treasure Coast of Florida. 
I preferred to use a metal detector I knew was hot at detecting silver and capable of detecting small silver half and one reales like the treasure coins in this photo.

                                 

Due to work and family commitments , I now spend the majority of my metal detecting time searching for modern gold jewelry at tourist beaches closer to home.
As you would expect, my choice of metal detector changed to one better suited to detecting small gold instead silver. 
Many beach and water hunters do not realize how important it is to use a metal detector that is designed or better suited to detect what they are searching for.
Some metal detectors are hot at detecting silver, others are better at detecting gold, due to a variety of different reasons including operating frequencies. 
In my opinion, the number one mistake people new to the hobby make is buying and using a metal detector everyone else is using, instead of researching and finding out what type of metal detector is best suited to detect the main thing they are searching for.
The Minelab Sovereign series was always my go to silver coin machine, it was and still is a very good metal detector for a silver coin hunter. 
The Minelab CTX 3030 is now my first choice when searching for modern platinum, gold or silver jewelry, although I still own and enjoy using the Excalibur which is basically a waterproof Sovereign. 
Because of all the platinum and gold jewelry I have found at the beach I could use any metal detector I want, but I still would rather use metal detectors I know are the best at detecting what I am searching for.
If you are struggling to detect silver coins or gold jewelry at the beach, maybe you should look into using a metal detector better suited to detecting what you are searching for.

Sizing up the competition

As any Florida beach or water hunter will tell you, there are not many beaches you can go to now and not see other people metal detecting.
Rick in south Carolina asked me an interesting question, do I take notice of any other people metal detecting in an area.
My answer is no, because I am too busy doing my thing and most of the people I see are people who do the same thing at the same places.
I may not see them very often as I rotate my sites and try new places, but I pretty much know who the local hunters are by sight and newbies are easy to spot.
On my 4th of july beach hunt I saw two novice water hunters, shiny new metal detectors, full wet suits, dive hoods, masks, gloves, extended snorkels and meandering around from the dry sand, to water, to wet sand and all points in between. 
Did I say it was 90 degrees yesterday lol like I said I do not take much notice of the so called competition when I am metal detecting.
If anything I prefer to avoid making contact with other people metal detecting at the beach, as Im not into lolly gagging about who is finding what and where, Im there to find jewelry or coins. 
I would say most people are easy to size up from a distance, by the way they are covering the ground and using their equipment.
Heck at heavily hunted sites I will even pretend to not know what Im doing close to other people searching the same site.
I still believe the only real competition you have at the beach is yourself, especially if you look at the big picture which I often do.
The next time you go to the beach and turn on your metal detector, look at how small your search coil is and how much time you have to metal detect in and how much ground you have to cover.
There is no way you are going to detect every metal object within detection range at the beach, you are going to miss stuff.
The more of the beach you try to cover, the more targets you are going to miss. 
Even a small beach would take a long time to cover correctly if you kept a very tight search pattern, its even more difficult to keep a tight search pattern when you are water hunting.
Look at the big beach or water hunting picture and you will see how pointless it is to give any thought to sizing up the competition. 

Coverage is everything

Time to get caught up on beach and water hunting questions after spending the last two weeks in England. To answer Jerry from Mississippi, in my opinion ground coverage or the way you cover the beach is the most important factor at heavily hunted beaches.

I had permission to search a pasture in England that had obvious signs of having been searched previously, kind of like walking on a beach and seeing scoop drag marks and refilled holes.

Just like I do at beaches in Florida, I relied on thorough ground coverage to detect targets behind other hunters.

I like to say, its not how much ground you cover, its how you cover the ground.

This 1862 half penny was recovered between two holes that had been filled in, who knows what the other two targets were, but a third target was left behind. 

It happens a lot at the beach if you are not careful, unless you take your time and try covering smaller areas really well.

A less is more way of covering ground, gives you the best chance of recovering targets at various depths. 

Almost all the items I recovered in this farmers pasture were deep targets, probably left behind by other hunters trying to cover too much ground.  

The slower and more thoroughly you cover an area, the more you take advantage of the size of your search coil when using larger search coils. 
Deep targets will always be missed at the beach if you cover ground too quickly, but searching slowly and methodically should help you avoid traveling across the beach too quickly.
You never have to be the first person to cover an area, you just have to be the first person to cover the area correctly.
Now I am back I am looking forward to seeing gold in my scoop, there will always be something to detect at the beach, especially if you give your metal detector a chance to detect it. 
Oh and can you believe I was actually disappointed seeing the 154 year old victorian coin I am holding in the photo, even though my detecting time on this trip was very limited I forgot just how much England spoils you when you are metal detecting. 

You never know unless you go

I love the title of this blog, it reminds me exactly what I was thinking back in 2005 when I took the long drive up to the Treasure Coast of Florida in search of Spanish treasure.
Boy did I find it that morning, the 1694 silver reale I put in my finds pouch 20 minutes earlier was just an after thought when I picked this beautiful Spanish gold treasure ring out of a hole I had just dug on the beach.

The "Precious" is 22.5 carat inca gold with 9 flawless Colombian emeralds, who's your daddy!
I know many beach hunters get depressed during lean beach hunting times, but some of my  best finds were recovered when I least expected to find anything at all.
This keeps me grounded, knowing that it does not matter what time you get to the beach to search, what metal detector you choose to use, you never know unless you go.
My favorite finds stories are the totally unexpected ones, and the first thoughts that always cross my mind are wow what are the odds of that and imagine if they never went out that day.
In my opinion, you only need one reason to go beach hunting and that is just in case you find something.
High tide, sanded in conditions, heat, cold, competition, difficulty parking, there are plenty of reasons not to go to the beach, but one really good reason to go try your luck.

To this day I avoid tide tables and second hand beach reports, I go beach hunting whenever I get the opportunity and regardless of the beach conditions.
You never know unless you go, also applies to trying new search areas which can often lead to more finds if you search beaches or areas at the beach less frequently searched by other beach hunters.
To me, finding the unexpected is what is so fascinating about beach and water hunting.
Even a lowly crusty copper penny is a good sign when you have a positive outlook and decide to go beach hunting. 
You never know what you will find next, unless of course you wait for so called better conditions or more favorable tides. 

Pinpointing and recovering targets

Kevin from Toronto asked me how I pinpoint targets accurately and how much time it takes me to recover a target at the beach. 
My short answer is knowing the sweet spot under my search coils and under a minute if possible. 
You can learn a lot by watching other beach hunters in action, especially at heavily hunted beaches.
One thing I notice other beach hunters doing is spending way too much time recovering detected targets. 
The more time you spend farting around X-ing the spot before scooping. the less jewelry and coins you will take home from the beach.
The "Sweet spot" under your search coil where the target is probably centered, should be one of the first things you learn about your metal detector.
Mainly because it saves you so much time and in my opinion, time equals finds in beach or water hunting.
If I have a pinpoint button or switch on my metal detector, it is hardly ever used when beach or water hunting. 
Two or three short sweeps across a target and I already know where a target is centered under my search coil.
The lip of my scoop basket enters the sand at a sharp angle behind the eyeballed target area, and the object is usually scooped up in one or two attempts depending on the depth of the target.
One of the reasons I cannot watch youtube beach or water hunting videos, is the first two or three minutes of constant sweeping over the target area and umpteen scooping attempts.
I prefer to spend more time putting jewelry or coins in my finds pouch, than wiggling my coil over targets from all directions and taking blind stabs at scooping targets. 
Pinpointing and target recovery skills are best learned early on and should become instinctive. 
Using a good long handled beach scoop with a decent size basket will help you to recover targets at the beach faster, it will also cut down on damage to finds.
After your metal detector, your choice of beach recovery tool is probably the most important decision to consider. 
A deep seeking metal detector and a coffee can size scoop basket is a bad combination, so too is an extra large search coil and not knowing how to pinpoint a target under it.
When you tighten up your target pinpointing and recovery time, you put yourself closer to what you are really searching for.

The beach hunting comfort zone

Everyone wants to use the best metal detector or search coil for beach hunting, but a basic fact of beach hunting life is it is hard to beat equipment you have already become comfortable using. 
Occasionally, I will pony up some hard earned wonga for a metal detector or search coil I believe will give me an edge at the beach, although it rarely works out. 
There is something to be said about using equipment you trust and enjoy using, over new equipment you hope lives up to the hype. 
This year I bought and tried a metal detector that came with a lot of hype, but it just did not impress me and was not an upgrade over anything I already use.
It was a good beach hunting equipment lesson learned, nice to compare and try different things and comforting to know I am not missing out on anything.
I will not get into brand specifics or negatives, as the metal detector I tried may be fantastic for something other than beach hunting.  
In my opinion, experience and comfort using a metal detector you really like is the key to beach or water hunting success.
An experienced beach hunter in the comfort zone, can and should kick butt no matter what equipment they use, but especially if they have been using the same equipment a long time.
Todays blog is a reaction to questions I received last week from two experienced detectorists taking new equipment on detecting vacations.
My response was don't do it, take equipment you are comfortable using because a potentially good metal detecting situation is not the time to take chances with equipment you are unfamiliar with. 
My wife always comes out with the best response to new detecting equipment I mull over buying, reeling off a long list of trophy finds and "What were you using when you found it." 
Of course my answer to everything on the list is always the same, a metal detector with a regular size search coil that I know like the back of my hand.
There really is a lot to be said about being in the comfort zone with your favorite beach hunting equipment. 

High end sites question

I get asked where I hunt on a weekly basis, by people who mistakenly believe I hang outside high end hotels waiting for people to lose jewelry at the beach. 

Nothing could be further from the truth, because high end beach sites are the most heavily hunted places in Florida.

I am not into traveling to heavily hunted sites duking it out with people who have a lot more time to go metal detecting than I do. 

In my opinion you have just as much chance of finding a piece of valuable jewelry at a beach opposite a budget hotel as you do outside a Hilton hotel. 

Sometimes a fancy swimming pool with bar and restaurant will lure people away before they even have a chance to lose jewelry at the beach.

I have found beaches with a fancy hotel and large swimming pool to be less productive jewelry hunting ground than a beach opposite a public parking lot. 

When the weekend rolls around and I head out the door with my detector, I go to a site that gives me the best chance of recovering jewelry, preferably platinum or gold. 

If I find expensive jewelry its a bonus, but I just want to find gold jewelry no matter what the price tag.

I saw a post on a detecting forum that inspired todays blog topic, a Florida water hunter saying how he went to the beach at 7 am on Memorial day and saw ten other people already metal detecting opposite a high end hotel.

You could probably say that about any day opposite a high end hotel on a Florida beach, which leads me to the point of this blog.

If you already know you have a slim chance of finding anything opposite a heavily hunted site, why join the detecting crowd?

Surely it is better to search the opposite type of place and probably find more gold and occasionally a very expensive piece of jewelry.

You get better odds of finding jewelry when you are not one of at least ten searchers at the site every day.

This strategy has helped me to find gold jewelry on a regular basis, less hunters more gold! 

I never worry about what I could be possibly missing out on, as many high end site searchers do.

I worry how I am going to find the time to visit all my favorite lesser hunted sites, places that often hold just as much high end jewelry.