Local beach hunting

I am always asked how I manage to find gold on my relatively short two to three hour beach or shallow water hunts.  The answer is simple, it is because I choose to search beaches that are either local or short driving distances away from home.
If you have a limited amount of metal detecting time, why waste that precious time with your hands on the steering wheel.
An hour or two spent searching on the beach instead of driving is a no brainer.
It is always better to play the percentages and go for the local gold, before trying to do battle with the competition on a beach you have to travel to.
When you take the time to study what conditions effect your local beaches, you become the local hunter with the inside track on metal detecting finds.
If you are not the master of your own local beaches, you cannot expect to travel to metal detect and have success elsewhere. 
If you are like me and have to juggle work, family time and treasure hunting, you have to use your metal detecting time wisely. 
Site selection and beach reading skills can put gold in your finds pouch without having to stay out on the beach all day, like the full timers.
These two keys to treasure hunting success can help to level the playing field when you do have to travel to metal detect. 
The gold ring below is one of my favorite local water hunting finds from a few years ago,  a heavy 18K gold coin ring with diamonds.  More than enough gold and ice not to bother traveling to the big name beaches. 
Sometimes you have what you are looking for, you just have to search a little closer to home.