Garys water hunting rule #1

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.