High tide hunting

My detecting time has been limited just recently, due to work and preparing my latest treasure hunting  book for release.  
I have only been able to detect for a few hours on the last two Sunday mornings, but each time I made it count. 
Last weekend I found a 1 ounce platinum ring, and yesterday morning I found an 18K gold ladies ring with 84 diamonds.
I had to make a decision the night before,  to search on the high tide or not.
As you can see by the ring in this photograph, I made the correct decision to go metal detecting on the beach at high tide.

I have found many gold rings searching on high tides, it is actually one of my favorite times to search on the beach.
You see far fewer beach hunters at high tide, maybe they hang on the internet metal detecting forums and think all the gold jewelry is in the water?
The best high tide jewelry hunting is always after several days of high surf,  when jewelry is pushed up onto the beach.
I also found a couple of silver ear rings and a nice pair of sunglasses washed up in the high tide line.
There were three other beach hunters at the beach I was searching, all with headlamps on in the middle of the night.
I took my Excalibur but chose to use my CTX 3030 so I could concentrate on "Cherry picking" the likely gold targets before the competition.
Using the Target ID numbers and my custom gold tone allowed me to quickly cover a couple of productive sites for gold jewelry. 

The gold and diamond ring is a good reminder that it is always time to go beach hunting.
I could have easily hit the snooze button and waited for the tide to go down and have more beach to detect.
I try hard not to be a "Box hunter" by going detecting regardless of the tides or surf height.
It keeps you on your toes and well prepared, when you do not know whether you are going to be beach or water hunting, wet sanding or dry sanding.
It also leads to discovering a variety of metal detecting finds.

Search patterns on the lower beach

You can increase your metal detecting finds on the lower beach by simply using a different search pattern. 
If you only search in a straight line along the lower beach, you are box hunting.
Just like using the same control settings on every beach, using the same search pattern will lead to missed treasure hunting opportunities. 
The size of your search coil, metal detector sensitivity level, surf washing over the wet sand, type of sand on the lower beach, will all determine the best search pattern to use.
Large search coils and straight line hunting in the splash zone will lead to false signals, especially on the end of each sweep. 
Too high a metal detector sensitivity level will also have the same negative effect on your wet sand hunt. 
Black sand and straight line searching on the lower beach is made worse by using a large search coil.
I see many local beach hunter's walking down to the lower beach and robotically searching parallel to the water.
They search in straight lines, no matter how high or fast the water is moving over the wet sand, or the size of search coil being used.
Use an East to West directional search pattern on the lower beach, when the conditions say you should.
Avoid box hunting in straight lines on the lower beach to have a chance of finding gold jewelry in the wet sand.
14K gold chain without a pendant, found in the wet sand using a search pattern better suited to the fast water rushing over the lower beach. 

Researching old beach sites

Considering I am a south Florida beach and shallow water hunter, I find my fair share of silver coins.

One of the ways I put myself in position to discover older silver coins is by using the local internet property appraisers site.
Finding the oldest section of a beachside community is easy, put an address of a house in the search box and the date the house was built will be given.
Many years ago, I used to find old jewelry and coins opposite a newly constructed four story beachside condo.

I put the address of the new condo in the property appraisers site and quickly discovered that across the road from the beach was a row of small cottages built in the 1930s.
If you did not know any different, there would be no reason to walk so far away from the main beach entrance.
I use this research tool to hunt beaches where I rarely see other beach or shallow water hunters.
Try using public property records to discover potentially undetected beach or shallow water hunting sites.
Or you could just follow the local beach conditions blog, and join the crowd at the same beach everyday.

He who dares

When I found 50 pieces of gold jewelry over a three week period last year, I worked hard for the gold jewelry that came out of the water.
This superb 18K gold ring with a five carat emerald and two diamonds was one of the better water hunting finds from the haul of gold jewelry.

I also remember why I found the emerald ring, I had the minerals to get in the rough water. 
I do not normally like water hunting in really rough surf, but when I know there is a really good chance of finding gold jewelry close to shore, I hit the rough surf when it is safe to do so.
The low tide is the best opportunity for rough surf hunting on productive jewelry sites, you really do not need to go into the water very far opposite productive beach sites.
Making every water hunting move count with a good discriminating waterproof metal detector is important, rough surf is also where your target recovery skills come in to play. 
Heavy long handled stainless steel scoops, zippered finds pouches and standard size search coils help you to be an effective rough surf water hunter.  
You may be pleasantly surprised how few water hunters bother to go water hunting when the surf kicks up. 
Many beach hunters are not prepared to water hunt, using non waterproof metal detectors in the wet sand. 
Having the ability to water hunt in rough surf, opens up much more jewelry hunting real estate at low tide. 
Hit the wet sand for lighter jewelry washing up and hit inside the water close to shore for heavier jewelry in the surf zone. 

Never over hunted

I have been really busy lately and today was my first real water hunt for a few weeks.
I could have gone beach hunting for Spanish treasure coins, but I decided it was time to get back into modern jewelry hunting for a three hour water hunt with my Excalibur.
No doubt, the high end resort I decided to go water hunting outside had been hammered on Saturday morning.
This one ounce platinum ring with 10 diamonds is a good reason to never assume a heavily hunted area has been really covered.

Saturday nights can be busy on beaches with nightclubs in the area, I saw many empty beer cans swirling around in the first drop off.
I would not be surprised if alcohol was a factor in this large ring coming off in the water.
Going back to my recent weekend hunting blogs,  this is what makes beaches close to nightclubs so productive.
They are sometimes replenished with jewelry more at night, than in the day time.
Many local beach and shallow water hunter's do not bother searching a heavily hunted area on a Sunday morning, when they see the same site hammered on a Saturday morning.

Discrimination at depth

I prefer to use discrimination on my metal detector because it allows me to make the most of my limited beach and shallow water hunting time on south Florida many tourist beaches.

When it comes to searching less populated Treasure Coast beaches in search of Spanish treasure, I use a different approach to discrimination. 

I use a very minimal amount of discrimination, just enough to knock out small ferrous nails if I am using my CTX 3030 

On beaches where I have a chance of find treasure coins or artifacts, I totally ignore the numbers on my display screen and the audio tones. 

The reason I do this is because targets on the edge of discrimination range often react totally different to targets within easy detection range, no matter which metal detector you are using. 

Many beach and shallow water hunters do not realize that display numbers and audio tones, while reliable at certain depths, fluctuate the deeper the target is.

For this reason it is always best to take a layered approach to metal detecting using discrimination. 

Conduct some depth tests on different common targets found on the beach and see how accurately your metal detector identifies them at depth.  

When you know how accurate your metal detector identifies targets at depth, you will know how much you can really rely on your discrimination control. 

Cherry picking choice targets is great for jewelry hunting but only to a certain depth in the sand.

If your metal detector has a target depth gauge, make a habit of checking out broken high or low tone signals at the deepest depth gauge reading.

You may be surprised like I was when this iffy signal with a maxed out depth gauge reading turned out to a raw emerald pendant. 

Move it, or lose it

A good tip for people who hunt the same beaches on a regular basis is to move large ferrous objects around.  
I hunt a few beaches that have large ferrous objects on the lower beach and in the shallows, I have found more than a few pieces of gold and silver jewelry by moving large ferrous objects to one side. 
Enterprising beach and shallow water hunters who search on tourist beaches should keep a metal note of where large ferrous objects are located on the lower beach and in the shallows. 
You can use these underwater or lower beach obstructions as jewelry traps. 
Move iron pipes or rebar out of the way,  metal detect the area and reposition the ferrous obstructions back in the same place. 
Most beach and shallow water hunters will move along quickly when they receive an overload signal or an extended null in their threshold. 
Imagine how much gold and silver jewelry is lost close to large ferrous obstructions on the lower beach waiting for a treasure hunter that knows how to think outside the box. 
If you have several movable ferrous obstructions on your regular beach rotation, you have a group of jewelry traps to search. 
Iron masking is a jewelry hunters worst enemy, but you can use iron masking to your advantage on certain beaches. 
This expensive chunk of 18K gold, platinum and diamonds was found using the same technique described in todays blog. 

I recovering several nice pieces of gold and old silver coins in the same area, it was tough work moving the old ferrous railing to one side, but well worth the extra effort as you can see by the large ladies bling ring recovered.