One of the perks of metal detecting is you get to recover some pretty amazing top pocket finds, especially when you know how to read the the ground you are covering and you have intimate knowledge of the sites you are searching.
Recovering a very good find is the ultimate rush for a beach hunter who searches for old coins and artifacts at shipwreck beaches or modern jewelry on tourist beaches, I am fortunate to have experienced the thrill of recovering all of the above.
From over three and sometimes four hundred year old Spanish treasure to modern designer jewelry, I recovered and posted many a top pocket find in the past.
News of a good find or finds spread quickly, sometimes in the local mullet wrapper or nowadays online shared by both metal detecting and non metal detecting related groups and bloggers.
If you are happy and proud you found it why not show it right? I know that was my first reaction back in the day reaping the rewards for my hardcore beach and water hunting ways.
Over time I realized posting extremely good finds came with a price, an inbox full of "Would like to partner up" and "Where did you find" messages and negative green eyed monster stuff on metal detecting forums.
Getting followed to various places several years ago put paid to my posting recent finds on social media, although I did have fun seeing beach hunters behind me in the fast food drive thru and girls local ice rink at 6am lol
Posting or sharing spectacular top pocket finds including the recovery location is another issue, you run the risk of self made competition the next time you search the same site.
Your shared top pocket find photo may be used by a local blogger or metal detecting group to not only promote their site, but to also draw more attention to you and the recovery area.
What a novice or experienced beach or water hunter has to decide is the sheer excitement of the top pocket find recovery really worth the heat?
I have experienced both sides of the coin no pun intended and I am in a unique position where some top pocket finds are actually seen on TV treasure hunting shows so I do not have to post or share them.
But... the lack of recently recovered finds on my social media sites should tell you were I stand on sharing and posting top pocket finds.
For every person showing and telling, you can be darn sure there are just as many more grinding for top pocket finds, recovering more spectacular top pocket finds and keeping their top pockets and treasure hunting lips fully zipped!
Perhaps you'll see a few of those spectacular top pocket finds on this site in the future, just saying?
When I get asked about different types of metal detectors and search coils, questions are usually followed by Im afraid I will or could be missing things.
In my opinion a metal detectorist should never be concerned with what they cannot detect, just what they can detect within the limits of the metal detector / search coil combination they are using.
You could say Im an average metal detecting guy because I play the percentages when I go metal detecting, I know the capabilities of the equipment I use and search accordingly.
Making sure you detect every good target within metal detection range of the equipment you use in your allotted metal detecting time makes perfect treasure hunting sense to me.
This years metal detecting adventures have started out fantastic, if I was any luckier Id have to be twins!
I put the reasons for this years fast start down to the decision to use the things I have relied on the most, eyeballs, ears and trusted metal detector combo.
Knowing what to look for and trusting in your favorite metal detector pays off, especially when you only have a certain amount of treasure hunting time at a chosen site.
Sure there are many good finds just out of reach, but an inch may as well be a mile in metal detecting so don't worry about things outside of metal detection range.
When I return home empty handed it is because there wasn't anything I was searching for within detection range at that site.
Im not going to blame my metal detector or choice of search coil if I return home empty handed, because they always do what I expect of them.
If you are on the market for a different metal detector or search coil because you believe you are just missing what you are searching for, you are probably going to be disappointed with the next equipment you buy.
From experience I can tell you almost all the best things you can detect at a beach come from less than average depths and from less than ideal beach conditions.
A change in tides can help you recover a find of a lifetime, that miss by a mile analogy I mentioned earlier is oh so sweet when reversed, all it takes is an inch less sand to turn a beach hunting frown into a smile.
Keep your eyes on the ground, coil to the sand and listen to what your metal detector is telling you it has detected under the search coil you are sweeping.
Don't worry about what you are missing at the beach, have fun digging what you are capable of detecting or seeing on the surface.
Within metal detecting range and within eyesight are the only things Im interesting in recovering at the beach, the stuff out of my control can stay there for another beach hunting day.
You'd be surprised how many "Bobby Dazzlers" you can find at the beach in areas people are not supposed to be in or around, for example under piers, in water sports rental areas and on lifeguard towers to name a few.
After normal beach hours people are free to hang where they please even if the beach signs say otherwise, sitting on lifeguard tower steps, swimming in roped off areas and walking close to and under piers.
I have eye balled many a pair of designer sunglasses on lifeguard tower steps early in the morning, Ive also found my share of watches laying on towels along with alcohol containers left behind by night time partiers.
Heck you don't even need a metal detector to find good stuff in some out of bounds areas at the beach, just the beach hunting sense to search them.
The early worm gets the gold at many tourist type beaches with beachside bars and restaurants.
Any area off limits to people during regular hours at the beach can be a potential gold mine if you bother to search those types of sites.
This sweet 18K gold chain and silver cross was recovered in an area off limits to people during regular beach hours.
Even at the most heavily hunted beaches any person metal detecting during regular beach hours has to adhere to the same rules as anyone else using the beach, leaving jewelry where it is lost.
Jet ski rental sites are a perfect example of an area out of bounds for most of the beach day, imagine how many pieces of jewelry are lost in these areas every year.
Anchored opes leading out into the water attract swimmers like a moth to a lightbulb, resting on ropes and diving under ropes help remove earrings, chains, rings and watches from unlucky people losing jewelry at the beach.
You just have to make sure you hit these type of sites before or after regular beach hours.
Many fishing piers at popular beaches have signs saying no swimming close to the pier for obvious safety reasons, but people love to snorkel and swim under fishing piers because they do attract fish and other marine life.
I don't think there is a pier in South Florida I haven't found a platinum or gold wedding band underneath, early mornings and evenings are the best times to search under and around fishing piers.
Be prepared to find a lot of lead fishing weights and tackle, another good reason to wear dive booties when beach hunting!
As you may have already figured out the reoccurring solution to searching off limits beach areas is searching those areas after normal beach hours.
They say rules are made to be broken, sometimes the price is a nice gold chain or a diamond ring!
For other tips on how to find bobby dazzlers at the beach pick up a copy of my Jewelry Hunting book on my website merch page at www.garydrayton.com
When you have spent a lot of time beach hunting there comes a time when you wonder how much more of what you are search for is inside the water.
As any experienced and wily water hunter will tell you, nothing to see here move along.
Just kidding, Davy Jones locker, rivers, streams, canals and lakes are fantastic metal detecting sites just waiting to be mined by someone with the right set of water hunting skills.
Water hunting is the natural and prosperous next step for an experienced beach treasure hunter.
The point of todays blog is my number one rule of water hunting, learn how to metal detect on the beach before you decide you are going to become a water hunter.
Take it from me, good beach hunters make great water hunters.
One of the most difficult places to learn how to metal detect has got to be in and under any body of water.
Waves, strong currents, salt content and zero visibility all add to the fun of trying to detect and recover what you are searching for in water.
You bypass so many important beach and water hunting skills if you jump into the proverbial deep end by starting out water hunting.
Search techniques, metal detector settings and site reading skills are all best learned on shore.
Specific skills connected to water hunting are pin-pointing and recovering targets under the water, where you often cannot see where you are digging or what you are doing during the target recovery process.
If you haven't practiced how to recover targets in the wet sands on the lower beach, you are really going to struggle in the water.
I have always found more trash close to shore inside the water than in the wet sand, so knowing what your metal detector is telling you comes in very handy along trashy shorelines.
This is something to think about if you rely on a metal detector screen with target readouts, forget about lifting your screen out of the water every time you get a signal to check darn target numbers.
My water hunting rule #1 is make sure you know how to beach hunt before you head into the water to try your luck.
Once you become proficient searching and recovering targets close to shore using your beach hunting basics, you'll learn many tricks of the water hunting trade.
If in doubt no matter what metal detector you use I have a book on my merch page at www.garydrayton.com that will help you navigate the waters ahead using a metal detector.
In my opinion there is always something to find somewhere, including at beaches considered by many to be heavily hunted.
Im used to competition for metal detecting finds living in South Florida and I could walk on to any local beach this morning and see several people swinging metal detectors.
Instead of worrying about who is finding what and where, I simply plan on finding my share.
You could say I thrive on competition as it keeps me on my toes and reminds me not to be complacent.
I know if Im not out there finding Spanish treasure on shipwreck beaches or modern jewelry on tourist beaches, there is a darn good chance some other motivated person will be.
Im always trying new search areas, but I still hit sites considered very heavily hunted.
Just because someone is using a metal detector at a popular beach it doesn't necessarily mean they know how to use it, giving you plenty of opportunity to recover what you are searching for at heavily hunted sites.
Perhaps the user is new to the metal detector and hasn't got the metal detector set up correctly, or has the search coil too high above the sand, walking too fast or haphazardly meandering around hoping to tag a lucky find.
Even so called experienced beach hunters chop and change metal detectors at heavily hunted sites, when experience should tell them they should have already found a good metal detector fit by now.
From time spent hammering and still recovering bobby dazzlers in heavily hunted areas, the easiest way of going home with something good from a heavily hunted site is to do everything better than the competition.
In metal detecting terms that means using tighter search patterns, sweeping lower and slower, hitting the best looking areas first and using better equipment than the competition.
If the locals use 11-inch search coils, use a bigger search coil, if the locals use VLF metal detectors use a pulse induction metal detector, what ever it takes to outgun them.
Even poor target recovery skills make a difference, every minute wasted trying to recover a target either because of pin-pointing or an inadequate recovery tool prevents you from getting to a possible good target before the competition.
Heavily hunted sites are always worth searching when you know what both you and your metal detector are capable of doing.
When you and your metal detector are working together you can detect and recover what you are searching for on a regular basis, instead of waiting for and relying on beach erosion as your sole source of finds.
Waiting for good beach conditions or buying the latest and greatest metal detector will only help you a small fraction of the time at heavily hunted beaches, insure you get your slice of the beach hunting pie by actually being the competition at heavily hunted beaches.
Available at www.garydrayton.com
