In my opinion, the most productive area to search on the beach Is always the area you choose to detect after reading the beach.
I never know if I will be water hunting, wet sanding, or dry sanding until I get to the beach to metal detect.
I just go with the flow, whatever part of the beach looks the best is the place I try my luck.
My local beaches have been very sanded in, making the water the best place to find jewelry.
I would not hesitate to search the dry sand or wet sand, if I thought both areas were better places to find jewelry.
Not being a straight line, one dimensional hunter will lead to a wide variety of finds.
This photograph of silver coins and gold jewelry from the 1950s is a perfect example of why you cannot just search one area of the beach, as many wet sanders and water hunters do.
These finds from the 1950s were all found in the dry sand several days after hurricane Sandy had passed by the Florida coast.
Other beach and water hunters had searched the lower beach, but only the wet sand and water.
I went metal detecting over several nights, searching the upper beach and found a pouch full of silver coins and gold jewelry with my CTX 3030.
Many finds were shallow targets, left behind in previous high tide lines, just waiting for an enterprising dry sander. I use this strategy when searching for Spanish treasure coins on the Treasure Coast of Florida.
Just like gold jewelry does not mysteriously fall off people on tourist beaches when they step foot in the wet sand, silver reales do not just wash up and wait for treasure hunters in the wet sand.
The more areas of the beach you make an effort to search, the more coins and jewelry you will find.
High tides deposit coins and jewelry all over the beach, it does not make treasure hunting sense to search just one area of the beach all the time.
This past weekend I told my wife I would be hitting the bar early on Saturday morning. Of course my wife knew exactly what bar I was talking about, the sand bar opposite a busy tourist beach entrance.
Due to work and daddy duties I have been a "Weekend warrior" over the last few months, but when I do get the chance to go detecting I like to maximize my chances of finding bling by searching the best looking spot on the beach.
If the lower beach is sanded in, the upper beach or inside the water away from shore are the best places to search for jewelry.
Saturday morning the low tide gave me a chance to wade offshore and search a promising looking sloped sand bar.
I started to recover quarters and dimes, which is always a good sign when searching along the bottom slope of a sand bar. Easily detectable coins in the area, was a sign that the area had not been searched recently by the competition.
About 20 minutes into the early morning water hunt I recovered a nice chunk of 14K gold with 23 really nice diamonds.
I did manage to recover a few small pieces of silver jewelry but my water hunt was cut short by the returning high tide.
I saw five other people metal detecting in the area, three water hunters searching along the sandy first drop off inside the water, and two wet sanders walking along the lower beach.
Many shallow water hunters on my local beaches become lulled into doing the same Groundhog day style water hunting as wet sanders, walking in a straight line just inside the water hoping to just run across a piece of jewelry.
The lower beach can be very productive, but if it is sanded in you have no chance of finding anything if you search the same area every time.
Stay away from being tied to searching one area of the beach or water, the more you move around, the more chance you have of finding jewelry.
Look for promising areas and imagine where you would lose jewelry, getting hit by waves rushing over a sand bar could be that place.
Unless, you think all gold rings mysteriously slip off fingers when people step in the wet sand?
Many beach hunters struggle to find gold chains at first, but once you find gold chains the audio response become easier to recognize.
A gold chain in your scoop basket can come from the most unimpressive and unlikely target response.
Similar to how a faint signal can turn out to be a deeply buried big gold ring, big gold chains only a few inches deep without pendants can be short faint signals.
It is highly unlikely that the average beach hunter walking along the beach will detect even a good size gold chain without a pendant.
When using my Minelab metal detectors, a low tone from a gold chain can be fleeting, even when plodding along using a slow sweep speed.
That is why it is so important to investigate any low tone signal, no matter how abrupt or faint it may sound.
There is a good chance you can hear the same signal again, if you move your search coil away and bring it slowly back over the original target area using a short sweeping wiggle motion.
If you detected a gold chain without a pendant, you may only have picked up the lobster clasp.
If the gold chain has a pendant, it may only be the pendant you detected.
Slow methodical beach and shallow water hunters will have a better chance of finding gold chains than people who try to cover an area quickly.
Many of my largest gold chains, with and without pendants, came from soft unimpressive signals.
Loud booming low tones can have you thinking gold chains, but turn out to be tin cans and sunglasses.
It is the signals you think are not going to amount to much, that turn out to be gold chains and bracelets.
A useful tip when investigating fleeting low tone signals on the beach, is to use your foot to move sand across the target area.
I recovered this gold necklace last year after investigating a short faint low tone in the dry sand and moving the sand with my foot, I saw the necklace and picked it up and put it in my finds pouch.
The 18K gold ring in the photo was found a few feet away from the gold bracelet, perhaps someone had taken this gold jewelry off before going swimming and lost them.
Most of my gold chains and bracelets have come from the towel line in the dry sand and along the high tide line on tourist beaches.
Mole-ing around beach entrances using a tight search pattern and small search coil, is an excellent way of increasing your chances of finding gold chains and bracelets.
Gold chains and bracelets are notoriously difficult to detect, but there are ways you can increase your chances of finding them.
Many beach and shallow water hunters only find gold chains and bracelets when they have pendants attached, or they have large clasps.
As you can see by the gold chains and bracelets in this photograph, you can find gold chains and bracelets without pendants and large clasps.
I use various Minelab metal detectors, and I use a very slow sweep speed and keep my search coil level through-out the search coil sweeping process.
Most of the gold chains ands bracelets in my hand were found using a minimal amount of discrimination, also proving you do not have to be in an all metals mode to find gold chains.
Sweeping your search coil and not moving forward until you have completed your sweep, will prevent you from walking over gold chains because you will have a chance of hearing signals from gold chains.
Many beach and shallow water hunters do not find gold chains because gold chains do not always respond with a two way repeatable signal.
A gold chain may just be a quick low tone "Burp" and it may take you one or two slow search coil passes over the chain to detect it again.
The keys to finding gold chains on the beach and in the water, are giving your metal detector a chance to detect them and trusting in your audio tones.
I found two of these gold chains a couple of years ago on a full moon low tide, on one night hunt at a local tourist beach.
I was using my usual slow methodical east to west search pattern, on the lower beach with several other people metal detecting in the area.
Gold chains and bracelets are still going to be difficult to detect, but not impossible to find.
You have to be prepared to out work the competition for metal detecting finds, no matter which beaches you search on.
I smile when I hear people write off my platinum and gold jewelry finds, as just the result of living near tourist beaches.
Here are a few old finds from the 17th, 18th and early 19th century, found here in south Florida which is not exactly artifact hunting central.
I remember holding every single one of these old finds in my hand for the first time, I also remember the hard work it took to find them.
The same hard work and determination it takes to regularly find platinum and gold jewelry on tourist beaches.
Hard work and determination eventually pays off for a beach or shallow water hunter, and the results are all the more sweeter when you know go out there and make your own luck.
It would be easier to hang on the detecting forums, or wait for a blogger to tell me when to go searching the local beaches, but a wait and see strategy is never a good treasure hunting plan.
I prefer to do my homework on the beaches I like to search, make the most of the conditions present and make sure I cover the search area thoroughly.
Patience, persistence and perseverance are the traits of all good beach or shallow water hunter, not wait until conditions improve, hook up with other hunters, and hope for the best.
In my opinion, you cannot beat a beach or shallow water hunter with a real treasure hunting plan.
A beach or shallow water that has researched and studied the area, uses a good metal detector, and is prepared to go metal detecting when other beach or shallow water hunter's lack motivation.
Treasure is like everything else in life, if you want it, you have to go out and work hard for it.
Yesterday I went shallow water hunting at a local beach in south Florida, to a beach I had a chance to visit and check out before the weekend.
On my quick recon trip to the local beach on Friday, I noticed several people standing in waist deep water past the sand bar at low tide.
That information came in handy yesterday with hardly any people on the beach for the morning low tide.
Instead of working close to shore, I waded out at low tide past the sand bar to an area with a partially covered coral ledge.
Taking advantage of the low tide I was able to bob and fan for lost coins and jewelry in the cracks and holes in the coral ledge. Last year I found several large gold class rings in this same area, so I knew I had a chance of finding gold.
This 14K ladies diamond ring with a 1/2 carat center diamond was my catch of the two and a half hour water hunt.
This gold ring also goes to show how you can improve your chances of finding gold jewelry by keeping an eye on your local beaches, and observing where people are laying on the beach and using the water.
Finding gold jewelry on a regular basis starts with knowing your local beaches, especially where people gather on the beach and in the shallow water.
Hot spots on beaches are often the most heavily used areas on beaches, and local beach and water hunters should always know where hot spots are by reading people using the beach.
I had the lyrics of the famous Clash song ringing in my ears yesterday, I had an opportunity to go metal detecting and I decided to roll the dice.
The trees in my yard were blowing in the wind, and I knew the surf would be rough but I still decided to go water hunting.
As you can see my this photo of 3 ounces of gold jewelry, I made the correct decision to go metal detecting regardless of the conditions.
It was hard work and I took a battering in the surf for four hours, the flash of gold in my scoop every half hour helped me to stay motivated.
Several of my previous blog subjects are relevant to todays blog.
Stay motivated When you get the chance to go detecting, go for it!
Go detecting regardless of the conditions Anytime is a good time to find gold, not just during calm seas or on eroded beaches.
Stay ahead of the competition The weekend warriors are going to mob the beach on a Saturday morning, beat them to the punch by detecting on a Thursday or Friday if you can.
Beach and water hunting reading skills rule
It was no accident that I found a site with multiple pieces of gold jewelry. I am always reading the beach and water, and trying to scout out future areas of interest while I am hunting.
Sanded in conditions Too many people do not go detecting and use "Sanded in" conditions as an excuse not to go beach or shallow water hunting.
Metal detectors Use the right tools for the job, I went rough surf hunting. I chose a metal detector with "Toggles and knobs"with minimal iron rejection, instead of my other metal detector with a display screen and extra discrimination.
