Back up sites

I try not to have too many preconceived beach hunting plans when I head out the door to have fun apart from a good back up or secondary site.
Before a couple of hurricanes dumped tons of sand on one of my favorite back up sites, I had a unbelievable run of success at one back up beach.
This bobby dazzler was the only signal I got after visiting a secondary site I ended searching after striking out at the first site.

A complete change of beach is sometimes just what the doctor ordered if sanded-in conditions give you a headache. 
Having two different search sites within reach of each other makes beach hunting sense.
I rarely stay any place above three or four hours if a beach is just not producing what I am searching for, depending how big the beach is.
If it is not happening on the upper beach, lower beach and inside the water in four hours, its time to move on in my book.
I often know within the first thirty minutes how a beach hunt is going to go and I sometimes pull up anchor sooner.
Knowing when not to search comes with experience and it is probably more important than knowing when to search which is much easier to learn.
Time spent metal detecting at local beaches will help you to know secondary sites worth searching that are likely to be different to the bad situation you walked away from at the first site.
I often pull up bobby dazzlers and top pocket finds at back up sites, instead of wasting beach hunting time at the first site my instincts told me to walk away from. 
If you have only one beach within reach, make sure you do not just search one area of it.
For example, if you are a dry sander hit the shallow water or if you only wet sand and water hunt get yourself up in the dry sand.
The more places you search the more you find, avoid grinding away for hours and hours by having a good plan B.