A new years beach hunting resolution

Its that time of year for me, when I look back and see how I did at the beach with my trusty metal detecting equipment.
2016 was ok for jewelry and coin hunting considering I only managed to get to the beach every other weekend throughout the year.
Like a hardcore beach hunter, I used my metal detector like I stole it and I put it away wet after riding it hard.
The total weight of gold jewelry was a tad over 20 ounces and I recovered 1.7 ounces of platinum jewelry, mostly wedding bands.  
I do not keep track of my silver finds, but I would guess it had to be over 1.5 lbs of sloppy seconds. 
The one thing that stood out about this year was the amount of good jewelry I found at places I rarely ever see anyone metal detecting.
I posted a couple of youtube videos from a certain beach and it is now probably one of the most heavily hunted sites in south Florida lol! 
As well as researching and trying many new sites, I used a couple of pieces of metal detecting equipment that made my beach hunting life easier and saved my valuable metal detecting time.
My new years resolution for 2017 is to work harder at mixing things up and avoiding the pitfalls of searching over hunted areas.
The more sites you have the more chances of finding something good you have, which has always been my main beach hunting strategy.
Putting yourself in place to find something good with your metal detector involves research, site selection and good search techniques.  
I consider this a much better beach hunting strategy than following other beach hunters to heavily hunted sites, relying on other peoples beach reports or wasting time trying to track down places other people search.
In this video I explain some of the ways I try to be different, which may help you to set yourself apart from the competition.
https://youtu.be/lzKCvRGw8VU
Searching for modern jewelry or old coins at the beach, over time you will see that the less rules or restrictions you put on your beach hunting time, the more successful you will be. 
The two oldest silver coins I recovered this year, came from two of the most unexpected places.
Thankfully I think outside the box and never assume here or there is where you always find stuff. 
Wishing you a happy and lucky new year !

Signs of previous digging

Many beach and water hunters are get discouraged when seeing obvious signs of previous digging at a site, but I prefer to see the positives in any beach hunting situation.
Just because a site has been recently searched, does not mean the site has been searched correctly.
At the average beach there will be an average cross section of beach and water hunters, from weekend warrior newbies to full time hunters.
A newbie would be more inclined to search a beach that has obvious signs that it has been recently searched, than a seasoned beach hunter.
In my opinion, the newbie would be more likely to detect something good at the recently hunted site, than an experienced person who moves away from the area.
Seasoned pros fall into the trap of seeing other people searching a site and moving on, or seeing a site has been hunted and moving on. 
I could not give a monkeys uncle who is searching a site or how many obvious signs that a site has been recently searched by another beach or water hunter.
There are too many diamond rings and old treasure coins in the Drayton's safety deposit box at the bank, found close to other peoples spoil piles or dug holes at the beach to ignore recently searched sites.
The deeper or wider the hole someone has dug attempting to recover something at the beach, the more likely it is they walked away without recovering what made them stop to dig.
Often a person with bad target pinpointing or recovery skills, will push the target deeper into the hole or mistakenly dump the target away from the hole and fail to detect it.
I have recovered many good finds around the edges of dug areas at the beach, also other targets in the hole left behind by people not rechecking holes for multiple targets.
People lose sets of rings at the beach, when I find one ring I always search in a spiral pattern away from the initial find just in case the ring is part of a set. 
If you see trash targets close to holes left behind by sloppy beach or water hunters, pick up and throw the trash away or move it if the trash is too large to take away.
Always recheck the dug area after you have removed a large piece of trash, because a large ferrous (iron) or non ferrous target may mask a more valuable smaller target. 
This is the main reason why you always recheck your holes, no matter where you search.
Sloppy beach and water hunters are sloppy jewelry and coin hunters, trash left next to dig areas are dead give aways to a site not having been searched correctly. 
I recovered this diamond ring a few years ago on the slope of a dug hole at a heavily hunted Florida beach.

The wide hole was left behind on the lower beach by the beach hunter a hundred yards in front of me, the area screamed search me, search me!
The other beach hunter left behind a nice piece of bling in their haste to keep searching ahead of me. 
Which reminds me, good stuff is often left behind when a beach is cut (eroded) and being hastily searched by a lot of beach hunters. 
One persons trash may actually be hiding another persons treasure! 

My favorite christmas treasures

I consider myself a hardcore beach and water hunter, but today is the one day of the year I am quite happy to stay at home. 
On this special day I put my hobby aside and spend time with my favorite treasures, my beautiful wife and two daughters. 

In my opinion, family and friends will make you much richer than any jewel encrusted shiny gold colored objects you may find at the beach with a metal detector.

I would swap all the gold and jewels I ever found to have my mum who passed away this summer sitting at the christmas dinner table today. 

They say treasure is where you find it, but I can tell you from experience you often already have the best treasures in life. 

Stick a metal detector in my hand and point me in the direction of the local beach and I will be one lucky son of a gun, but even without leaving home or using a metal detector I consider myself one lucky son of a gun.

Merry Christmas and happy holidays to all my family and friends. 
PS
My girls Anya 16 and Katya 13 love posting embarrassing photos of their dad on Instagram, back at you girls from many christmas times past lol! 

Recovering the prize

I spend the majority of my beach hunting time searching for two things, modern jewelry lost at tourist beaches and old Spanish treasure coins and artifacts on Treasure Coast beaches.

When I detect a good sounding target at the beach, I always try to make sure I do not damage a potentially good find during the recovery process. 

Sunglasses are a perfect example of a good sounding target, they sound very similar to gold chains at tourist beaches. 

Every time I stop to scoop a signal that sounds like a pair of sunglasses st the beach, I secretly hope to see a gold chain in my scoop basket.

As you would expect, I take great care during the recovery process to prevent potential damage to the good sounding target. 

One of the ways I help prevent damage to potentially valuable targets is by using a scoop with a decent size basket. 

You will see many different types of scoops used at the by beach and water hunters, very much like using a metal detector,  the best scoop is the one you are most comfortable using. 

The way you use your scoop to recover targets will prevent damage to what you are hoping to recover intact. 

I always rely on my pinpointing skills to help me X the spot I believe the target to be located. 

Then I make sure I push my scoop basket behind the target at a steep angle, I would rather scoop a wider hole than risk damaging a good target.

Plus you never know, often you can detect multiple targets in the same hole.

This superb piece of 1830s Seminole Indian war gold came out of a hole I scooped on an eroded stretch of beach back in 2011, after first removing three crusty bottle caps.

When I first saw the 1836 gold coin on top of the sand under my headlamp, I mistakenly thought it was a gold colored chocolate coin and cursed my bad fortune.

I moved what I thought to be a gold colored candy wrapper with my scoop basket and put a small scuff across the face of the coin.
The military buttons, include a carved button probably done by a bored soldier, a federal navy officers button, war of 1812 button, Artillery and a decorated cuff button. 
This stuff also goes to show what is buried in the dunes at Florida beaches. 

Yes I was gutted about the scuff mark on the gold eagle, but anytime you pull a gold coin out of the sand you cannot complain, I imagine the officer who lost that gold coin at the beach was equally gutted. 

Let my mistake help you avoid doing the same thing to something you have detected at the beach. 

Site reading skills and using your beach hunting time wisely

Many beach hunters underestimate the importance of site reading skills, knowing where and when to look for jewelry or coins at the beach.

I have a beach hunting experience in my " How to read the beach and water" book that sums up site reading in a nutshell.

Many years ago I was searching a Treasure Coast beach for Spanish1715 fleet treasure coins and artifacts, and thought to myself how lucky I was to have the beach all to myself towards low tide. 

An old guy parked his truck at the top of the beach and walked onto the beach and down towards the water with his metal detector and scoop, but after looking around for five minutes he walked straight off the beach without even turning his metal detector on. 

My first thought was how hardcore I am plugging away until I find a treasure coin and I also foolishly thought maybe I scared the guy off using my methodical search pattern. 

On the way home I spotted the other guys truck parked at the next beach down the road, so I turned around and checked out the beach.

I could see where the old guy had dug plenty of holes as he too had methodically gridded out the lower beach.

Not sure what the person found, but I know it was more stuff than me because he actually detected and dug stuff up. 

 I could not buy a signal on the sanded-in stretch of beach I had just wasted my time at.

Over the years I saw the wily old veteran beach hunter at several other Treasure Coast beaches known for Spanish shipwreck coins and artifacts. 

I knew exactly what had happened all those years ago, because I am now the wily veteran beach hunter, who does not just keep plugging away regardless of the beach conditions. 

Instead, I use my site reading skills to insure I use my detecting time wisely. 
All I really need to see is one or two promising beach hunting signs, to make a site worth searching. 
When I see poor beach hunting conditions, I know better than trying to make something happen that is clearly not going to happen. 

Recently I observed 3 to 4 ft cuts on several beach web cams, but instead of grabbing my metal detector and rushing to the beach I spent my time wisely with my family instead of wasting time searching cuts in replenished sand. 

Knowing when not to hunt can be just as handy as knowing when to hunt, especially when your beach hunting time is limited.

Beach and more specifically site reading skills are a huge advantage to a local beach hunter who regularly searches the same beaches. 

You know where to look and when to go, leaving less likelihood of going home empty handed. 

The beach can be your own personal jewelry store, when you have a window of opportunity to take away some jewelry. 

It's not how many hours you metal detect at the beach, it's where, how and when you search at the beach. 

Knowing what to look for at a beach or site within the site is one of the keys to beach hunting success. 

Knowing when not to search is one of the rewards of being able to read a beach and being the master of your local beaches. 

If you go days weeks or even months without finding what you are searching for at the beach, you need to try different sites or work on your beach reading skills. 

I stopped digging targets I know are junk just in case I miss one good target a long time ago. I also rely on experience to avoid wasting time talking long fruitless walks on the beach. 

This is the reason you never see me walk onto the beach turn my metal detector on and just search along a straight line like the majority of beach hunters do. 

I prefer to use my site reading skills to determine where I will head to, then I turn my metal detector on after I arrive at a specific site at the beach.

If the beach does not look very promising, I move on or go home, either way I always try to use my beach hunting time wisely.
This is probably one of my least productive years for beach found old coins and artifacts, but it has been a really good year for modern bling with over 20 ounces of gold jewelry. 
I know I have spent my beach and water hunting time wisely this year, cutting down on the amount of time I travel to detect and relying on my beach reading and site selection skills.
Here is a nice chunk of platinum and 18K I recovered in January, I walked along a stretch of beach with five other beach and water hunters in the area, until I saw an area that looked like it had the best jewelry hunting potential. 

I am not so sure this heavy chunk would have been waiting for me if I had wasted my detecting time walking around hoping to get lucky.

Obvious places to find gold at the beach

When people ask me where is the best place to find gold at the beach, my answer is always the same, the obvious places! 

Here are three obvious places to find gold at the beach using a metal detector.

Opposite a beachside parking lot 

The bigger the beachside parking lot, the more parking spaces the more people potentially losing gold at the beach opposite the parking lot. 

That is simple beach jewelry hunting math, and timing your beach hunts will increase the likelihood of you finding gold opposite beachside parking lots. 

Try not to fall into the trap of believing gold is just lost in one area opposite a beachside parking lot, by only searching one part of the beach. 

For example, only searching along a line in the wet sand, only searching inside water or only searching up in the dry sand.
Here are $25K worth of reasons to search opposite beachside parking lots, both diamond rings were found after busy holiday weekends.
They were also found in areas often ignored by many beach hunters, the high tide line and knee deep water. 

Never overlook the areas just past the busiest stretch of beach and go find yourself some big ice!

Opposite beachside bar's or nightclub's

Drinky winky and gold jewelry are not a good combination at the beach, but I sure would like to see more happy hours at beachside nightclubs and bars ! 

Timing is everything when searching on the beach or inside the water opposite popular beachside drinking spots. 

Night time and early morning hunters often have the first crack at recovering gold lost by courting couples on the beach or swimmers who had one too many.  

Look for towels spread out, discarded alcohol containers, drinking glasses or items of clothing left behind on the beach. 
You often find jewelry in the same area, sometimes just laying on top of towels or clothing. 
I have returned so many cameras, cell phones, wallets and jewelry to very happy and hungover people. 

Also forget about following outdated beach hunting advice passed around on metal detecting forums, if you wait until two hours before low tide to go beach hunting your selling yourself short. 

I cannot tell you what the tide time was when I recovered this superb diamond encrusted 18K gold chain and cross a few years back opposite a beachside bar.

Opposite a known shipwreck 

These are my favorite places to find gold, because old gold is always my favorite kind of gold. 

If you are lucky enough to live in an area with a known shipwreck or two, keep hammering away and you may get lucky enough to experience the thrill of pulling old gold up from opposite a ship wreck site.

This unusual piece of gold was recovered on a Florida beach opposite a known French shipwreck from the late 1600s. 

Local tales of old coins or jewelry washing up or being detected on local beaches after storms are usually true. 
All it takes is a little research to find the general location and the patience to be ready for the next big storm. 
Old coins, jewelry and artifacts more difficult to find than modern coins and jewelry, but if you up for the challenge who knows what fantastic treasure you may find.

So there you have it, three obviously good places to find gold at the beach. Sometimes the best places to find gold at the beach are the most obvious places to find gold.

Makes me wonder why I see so many people walk onto a beach, turn on their metal detector and immediately start walking away from a perfectly good place to find gold.

Roped off areas in the water

Earlier this morning the ocean was a flat as a Paris runway model, so I snuck off work for a couple of hours hydrotherapy with my Minelab Excalibur.

Although the ocean was calm it was pretty sanded in, but I always know where to look for jewelry or more specifically where jewelry is more likely to be within detection range.

I relied on an old faithful water sports rental site, hey let the jet skis blow the fluffy top sand away right? 

Although water sports rental sites are often off limits to swimmers during the day they still have plenty of people swim out to the ropes and hang onto them, even if they do not cross the line.

I have probably found dozens of rings and chains close to roped off areas in the water. Today was no exception, with one gold and two silver rings recovered directly under or to the side of ropes in the water at a local tourist beach.

I recovered two silver rings rather quickly and in the final hour when I heard a nice low tone I started rolling with the GoPro. 

Here is a short video of the 18K gold band recovery showing how close I was to the ropes and how my site selection was spot on.

https://youtu.be/nPnMq7YS89Q

There are many reasons why roped off areas are great jewelry hunting spots, including people grabbing hold of slippery ropes that lead to rings, chains or bracelets becoming snagged.

Or maybe they are just good places for a swimmer to catch their breath and then dive down under the ropes, whatever the reason for lost jewelry around ropes in the water, I like it! 

Many beach and water hunters make the mistake of using roped off areas as turn around points, so they are more prone to be just whiffed at and not searched correctly by many beach and water hunters turning around. 

Also lets not forget about jewelry and sunglasses lost by people getting on and off jet skis or paddle boards, especially when they remove life jackets, rearrange swimwear or their hair. 
I do not have that last problem, but I knew you were thinking it! 

In closing, make water sports rental sites one of the first places you search before the rental site sets up for the day. 
They are also good places to search after a busy weekend, dang Im giving away all my jewelry hunting secrets now.