When extreme low tides occur due to a full moon they expose areas potentially off limits the rest of the month, especially in shipwreck leased areas where metal detecting inside the water is not permitted.
Metal detecting is often a game of inches so several feet of the lower beach not covered in water during an extreme low tide can and often will make a different when searching beaches known to have shipwrecks close to shore.
The same applies to tidal river hunting, I have searched in the middle of rivers along rocky river beds during extreme low tides.
Potentially good beach hunting opportunities to look out for during extreme low tides are areas of exposed rocks, gravel or hard pack shell beds.
Hard packed materials can trap and prevent old coins and artifacts from sinking outside of metal detection range on lower beaches, you just have to be able to identify these types of old coin and artifact bearing materials.
Pay close attention to any area close to water that is lower than the surrounding area, a dip or a low spot where coins or artifacts may have been washed into, ripple troughs can also be very productive.
I love seeing large rocks, pilings, docks or other man made objects exposed on the lower beach during a full moon low tide because they are all things that block the natural sifting and sorting process of the water.
Any obstruction exposed on the lower beach can interrupt coins or artifacts from washing in or out in an area known to have seen activity back in the day.
My main two extreme low tide beach hunting strategies are to go for the easy to detect potentially non ferrous targets first and afterwards take out as many remaining targets as possible.
In other words do not waste valuable low tide search time digging surface junk or deep iron, get the low hanging fruit first then go for as many targets as you can before the incoming tide covers the area.
Search coil selection is key to having success during of after extreme low tide beach hunts, if an area is trashy or iron infested use an average to small size search coil.
If you know the area is not too trashy use a large search coil and go for target depth over target separation, digging all ferrous (Iron) and non ferrous targets.
These two hand made Spanish military buckles came off the same beach in the same general area two full moon low tides apart.
Once a month one of my favorite shipwreck beaches is often open for business when I use a large search coil or a pulse induction metal detector, previous searches at this site have cleared the area of shallow trapped junk targets.
Another good reason to take and throw junk finds away so you eventually make digging valuable targets more likely on prime treasure hunting sites.
Check out the file marks on the one buckle and the pin still attached to the other, pulse induction metal detector rewards going for full moon "Deepies" on the lower beach opposite a Treasure Coast Spanish shipwreck.
If you want to enjoy the thrill of howling at the full moon on the beach with treasure in hand, go to my website and invest in a copy of my "How to find old coins and artifacts at the beach"
Arrhooooooooh!
available now at www.garydrayton.com
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