Surprisingly easy places to find gold at the beach

With the weekend fast approaching here are a few surprisingly easy places to find gold at the beach.

Lifeguard tower steps 

Early morning beach hunters should always check around lifeguard tower steps, sometimes you don't need a metal detector to find good stuff.

After hours skinny dippers often take their jewelry and clothes off before hitting the water.

I have found watches, sunglasses, cell phones, wallets and gold chains just waiting to be picked up off lifeguard tower steps.

The area in front of the steps on the beach and in the water is also a great place to find gold.
Remember these type of areas are off limits during the daytime, so you are often the first person searching these type areas.

Beachside showers

Another great after hours area to search is around the beach showers, I have found everything from gold chains and bracelets to diamond ear rings around shower stands and hose pipes.

People do all the things that shake jewelry loose when showering off before leaving the beach.

I sometimes use a waterproof pin-pointer around the outskirts or edges of the shower area. 

Also check out drain covers many of the grids or screens just lift up, yeh I know I need serious help lol 

Gay areas

I can assure you gay gold is just as heavy, shiny and beautiful as straight gold. 

You can use other beach hunters intolerant views to your advantage if your local beach has an area popular with gays.
Gay marriage now means more wedding bands lost at the beach, and if you want to see fine jewelry a gay beach is the perfect place to see some serious bling.

If you see a pair of Union Jack speedos, that's me scooping up gold at places other beach and water hunters use as turn around points. 

Beach aerobics areas

Many swanky beach side hotels hold aerobics or fitness classes on the beach.

If you see a guy with Union Jack speedos and a CTX 3030 in their hand, yup that's me again looking for expensive jewelry shaken off to the oldies.

Concession stands 

You would think and rightfully so that you would find a lot of coins around concession stands on the beach, but you can also find gold.

Hands go in pockets to pay for stuff and gold taken off at the beach and put in pockets for safe keeping is pulled out and lost.

I have found a lot of gold chains and wedding rings around concession stands on the beach.

Sand castles and deep holes 

Hands up how many beach hunters have been asked to find a gold ring lost by someone playing with their kids at the beach.

Put your down now please, and never pass a large sand castle or dug hole you come across at beach without detecting around it. 

I should add not to search it while the people are still using it and at least attempt to fill any dangerous hole people may break an ankle stepping in.

I've had my share of nice diamond engagement rings around sand castles and dug holes, kiddy bling too at some beaches. 

If you don't be creative and search areas other people ignore at the beach, you leave easy beach hunting gold behind for others.

The 10K gold drop out point

If you notch out unwanted junk targets you better be careful you don't unknowingly notch out gold. 

10K gold is always the first gold to go when you turn up your metal detector discrimination to a certain level. 

This is why I always test any new metal detector or search coil combo with a variety of 10 K gold jewelry.

I prefer using a little metal detector discrimination at the beach, but not close to the level that 10 K gold drops out.

My fellow beach treasure hunters would probably assume I go after 18k gold at ritzy tourist resort areas, but they would be wrong.
I search a wide variety of beaches, resulting in a wide variety of jewelry that is either scrapped, returned or head to my Khaleesi mother of dragons jewelry box.

10K and 14K gold moves the scrap gold scales much faster, as big gold rings and chains needs to be made stronger by the addition of more alloys in the gold mix.
I have found several large 10 K gold rings weighting an ounce, and at least two 1.5 ounce beasties.
It does not matter how big a gold ring is if you've notched it out because your tired of scooping pennies, bottle caps or god forbid aluminum ring pulls lol 

Because I test my metal detectors and search coils with a variety of test targets at the beach, I know where 10K drops out.

I suggest you do the same with your metal detecting equipment of choice, sometimes it can be a real eye opener what one incremental turn of a control knob or press of a discrimination button can do to a beach hunt.

Are you leaving big gold rings behind for other beach or water hunters ? 
A couple of weeks ago I followed and detected behind two guys swinging extra large search coils on a Florida beach, I recovered a 0.6 ounce 10K gold wedding band in their tracks.
They were not sloppy beach hunters wildly swinging, quite the opposite so my guess is they were using just a tad too much discrimination. 
Better check yourself before you wreck yourself with notching and discriminating out junk targets st the beach, just in case you leave stuff like this behind.

Find your metal detector 10K drop out point if you are a discriminating beach hunter and get under it to avoid missing 10K gold.

Site and target specific

The title of today's blog is my usual reply to people who ask me what is the best metal detector to buy for beach hunting.

The best metal detector to use is the one that suits the sites you search and best detects what you are searching for, period! 

Once you get used to these two cold hard facts about beach metal detecting, you can choose the appropriate beach treasure hunting tools and find some return on your investment. 

I have used the same type of equipment for a very long, which I know like the back of my hand.

There are a few more metal detectors designed for beach and water hunting, but I have yet to test and find anything better than the metal detectors I use.

Trust and comfort are two words you also don't hear a lot about when it comes to your beach hunting equipment.

Trusting if what you are searching for is in the area your metal detector will detect it and you just feel comfortable using your metal detector of choice.

When perfect beach hunting opportunities come along or I am are going on a metal detecting trip, I always know treasure hunting equipment is coming with me.

Owning and using site and target specific equipment means you are always ready to be successful at the beach.

At heavily hunted beaches, people using site and target specific equipment usually have a heck of an advantage.

Shiny new metal detectors and pizza box size search coils don't always translate into more jewelry and coins.

I often use different equipment to search different sites, especially when searching for specific targets.

Using site and target specific tools, also refers to beach hunting accessories. 

For example, I use a waterproof pin-pointer and carry a long flat head screw driver for winkling out jewelry or coins on coral ledges.

These lead musket and bucky balls came off a beach with a little 1830s Seminole indian war history.
I was using an old discontinued metal detector and 5 inch search coil, the best equipment for the site.

In closing, make sure you are using beach or water hunting equipment for the reasons in this blog title, not because everyone else is using something so it must be good.

Beach hunting equipment is only good if you are using it because of the sites you search and the targets you hope to detect. 

Finding a needle in a haystack

Recently I found a thin sewing needle while detecting with the Minelab CTX 3030 and 11 inch search coil, pretty damn impressive if I do say so myself.

A few years ago I found a sewing needle on a Treasure Coast beach, which is probably more difficult than finding a needle in a proverbial haystack. 

The two finds spoke volumes for the metal detector I was using and the way I had it set up.

Of course sweep speed and search technique played into it, but setting up and knowing what your metal detector is telling you is the key to detecting little stuff at the beach.

Everyone likes and wants the big stuff, but if your not detecting small stuff you probably have not got your metal detector set up correctly. 

I'm a firm believer that detecting small thin targets at the beach is important.

Anyone can detect a coin or a chunky gold wedding band, not everyone can find a thin platinum or gold engagement ring.

I find a good mix of jewelry every year, gold chains, rings and bracelets of all shapes and sizes.

This uncut emerald wrapped in a thin gold wire bale was scooped out of rough water several years ago, talk about firing on all water hunting cylinders.

If you detect diamond stud ear rings, tiny ear ring backs and small segments of fishing trace wire on a regular basis, welcome to the micro target beach and water hunting club.

One of the main reasons I use a mask and snorkel when water hunting is to help me recover tiny targets that fall through the 1/4 inch slots in my scoop basket. 

I carry a waterproof pin-pointer when beach hunting to help me recover detected tiny targets faster. 

Detecting small stuff at the beach has it advantages, small thin bands often hold the best diamonds !

Here are a few ways I detect and continue to detect small stuff at the beach.

1. Using the best equipment for the beaches I search.

2. Moving and sweeping my search coil slow low and level.

3. Using the bare minimum amount of Ferrous (Iron) rejection.

4. Searching small areas of the beach methodically and thoroughly. 

5. Relying on my ears, instead of a metal detector screen readout.

6. Never assuming good stuff can only be found at certain areas.

7. Relying on beach and people reading skills.

8. Testing and adding equipment that makes a difference at the sites I search.

9. Thinking like a beginner, free of any beach hunting restrictions.
10. Not giving away the locations I recover good stuff at.

Lines in the sand

Here's a little trick I use after a crowded beach event or national holiday, but it often works any day of the week at heavily hunted beaches.

I use knowledge of local beach and water hunters to my advantage, by knowing where they like to search and also the times they like to search.

The majority of local beach and water hunters do the same things  every time they go to the beach, so the majority of so called competition are easy to read.

Reading a beach should also include reading people using the beach and the competition searching the beach at heavily hunted sites.

Knowing one local beach was very crowded on July 4 th, I searched the outskirts of two  areas everyone likes to metal detect at.  
I posted a handful of rings the other day and yesterday I travelled to another beach and added to the tally with another gold ring and two gold earrings.

Knowing the search habits of two full time water hunters who camp out at this tourist beach, I figured they would still be searching the same two heavily hunted areas the same way.

As expected I struck Klondike just beyond the invisible line on the beach and in the water tourists do not cross opposite two popular parking lots. 

When you know the habits of local beach and water hunters, you often have other areas all to yourself, the reason I don't complain about beach or water hunting competition. 

It's good to know the places to avoid and the places to invest your time.

I often leave a lot of the beach to other people swinging metal detectors, and put my time into cleaning out areas outside or just beyond areas I know are ignored by other hunters.

The next time your thinking of turning around at the beach and searching back towards where the people are, think about water currents and people who are not into sunbathing or swimming in crowded areas.

Water currents push or move jewelry and coins along the beach, people do use the beach and water past the last line of sun beds. 

Just two reasons why there are no lines in the sand when it comes to beach or water hunting. 

Don't fight over sloppy seconds at the beach, get the good stuff left behind by others not willing to cross invisible lines in the sand.

Two good indications for a beach or water hunter

I always want to get a feel for the potential of a site when first starting out searching, clues that indicate my beach or water hunting chances. 

The easiest indicator is the sand I'm moving over, does it have the potential to hold jewelry or coins ?
A hard packed sand, shell or mud bottom are good signs, but anything I detect normally gives me the final say on a site.

If I recover coins I'm a happy camper because coins in an area are signs jewelry could also be present.
Even the size of coins can be a good indicator,  tiny denomination coins in many countries can be easily missed by sloppy beach or water hunters. 

Large denomination coins would not be around if the site had recently been searched, or searched correctly. 

The same can be said about aluminum pull tabs or can slaw, unless you are following  someone who is purposely dropping junk instead of removing it from the site.

Not many local beach or water hunters do that, knowing they will probably detect the same junk again.

Toy cars and fishing weights are good finds to me, more objects not left behind by serious local beach hunters.

They say one persons trash is another persons treasure, one persons trash often leads to another persons treasure in my opinion.

Although I use a VLF metal detector and a little discrimination, I only reject junk targets that have a high probability of being unwanted pieces of trash. 

Detected targets like nickels, aluminum pull tabs and lead fishing weights, would never be around if a site has already been searched correctly, especially at heavily hunted sites.

Firm ground and easy to detect large denomination coins should always tell you to stay and search an area.

The more attractive a piece of metal is to detect at the beach, the more likely that metal would not be there.
I never look at conductive junk or non valuable targets as disappointing recoveries, I look at them as indicators about the site I am searching. 
Can you see the good site indicator in this photo of a platinum and diamond ring ? 

Its the rocky bottom below the water helping to trap lost jewelry in place until I put my CTX 3030 search coil over it.

Independence day beach and water hunting preparations

All my American beach and water hunting friends are hopefully charging their metal detector batteries, ready to hit the beach in search of treasure.

Beaches are normally very busy on the Fourth of July holiday, after all it's a great place to watch the fireworks. 

I am sure I will run into some stiff competition for gold at the tourist beach I decide to search.

My usually holiday beach hunting plan is to hit the best beach I know that gives me the best bang for my buck, jeez look at me with the American sayings lol 

I have already scouted a few locations out to make sure the beach or water hunting conditions will be favorable for finding something of value.

This is one of the few times I actually do check the tide times and weather forecast a couple of days in advance.

I've taken street closings and parking into account, my batteries are charged and I'm ready to sweep and roll.

My jewelry hunting vacuums  of choice will be the Minelab CTX 3030 and a back up

Excalibur II, two excellent discriminating VLF metal detectors.

Good luck to the pulse induction metal detector users, or the reverse hunting VLF guys, with a beach full of sparkler wires and foil fast food wrappers.

Dig it all, yeh right not the day after fireworks at the beach.

The only fireworks I want to see are from jewelry dazzling in my scoop, not sparkler wires.

Earlier in the year I prepared the same way for a big event taking place at a busy tourist beach, these photos testify friends don't let friends drink and wear gold at the beach.

This is perfect lead into why you don't always have to be the first person hitting the beach with a metal detector after an event has taken place at a beach.

You just have to search an area correctly and know your looking for stuff missed by speedy beach hunters trying to cover the whole beach.

Move juice packets, fast food wrappers and tin cans, other people metal detecting will avoid and move around just in case they are masking something good, hint hint! 

Searching during or after a crowded beach event are the times it pays to be ready, well prepared beach hunters recon, planning and preparations pay off. 

If you have the choice, are you going searching for a big find at a less crowded but more affluent area or searching for more finds in worker bee areas? 

Search coil options are another thing to take into account, I prefer to stay away from using really large search coils when expecting to run into a lot of trash at the beach.

I also don't narrow my beach and water hunting options by showing up at the beach dressed to do one thing, as many water hunters do.

Preparations and options are a beach and water hunters best friends at crowded beach events.

Have a safe and lucky Fourth of July.