Beach & water hunting troubles

Many moons ago I managed to run across a trifecta of bad beach and water hunting situations, all thanks to an early predawn hunt at a local tourist beach.

After getting kitted out and walking on to the beach, I was immediately accosted by a group of drunk youths asking me what I was doing and how much was my equipment worth.

Not very much as  I made it myself was my reply and they backed off when I told them my scoop was very sharp. I was ready to go medieval but it was not necessary as I walked into the water and that put an end to that potential threat.

I continued searching in the water, although I usually would only search inside the ocean after sunrise. 

With my back to the beach pinpointing a target, two approximately five foot long spinner sharks passed between me and my search coil. 
The sharks pectoral fins brushed against my thighs, luckily I was wearing my brown shorts. 

That is it I thought, I'd rather take my chances with the land sharks. 

About an hour into the beach hunt, a bad thunderstorm rolled over the area.

I headed straight to my car and drove home, drunken lager louts, sharks and lightning, do you think someone was trying to tell me something? lol !

Today's blog is about watching your back at the beach and being aware of your surroundings.

I am sensible now at not taking chances at the beach, starting with parking and sitting in my vehicle for a few minutes to scout the area for unfriendly's.

I also prefer to check a beach out first without carrying my equipment, just in case the beach conditions looks terrible. 

Better to take a quick look at the beach conditions than waste money feeding hungry parking meters without knowing if you are going to stay.

I also never get in the ocean before sunrise, automatically taking myself off the breakfast menu.

Some people like to metal detect in the ocean at night, I do not anymore.

Get caught in a rip tide at night and your in trouble. 

Not metal detecting at the beach during a thunder storm is a no brainer to me and that was before I heard about a guy getting struck and killed by lightning metal detecting in the water at Jupiter beach.

My metal detector often tells me it's time to go when a thunder storm approaches.

A lighting strike several miles away will cause your metal detector to false. 

Better to be safe than sorry, carrying a metal detector and metal scoop on a wide open beach.

Watch your back if you are searching beaches at night and use caution near the water or during a storm as no amount of gold is worth dying for.
Put safety first and what ever it is you are searching for at the beach second. 

Site percentages

Percentages is not a word you would normally associate with beach hunting, but at heavily beaches it is good to take site percentages into account.
I always think about percentages before leaving the house, the percentages of finding something of value at the site I am heading towards with my metal detector.
I always like to stack the odds of success in my favor by taking several things into account.
At heavily hunted tourist type beaches, you may see several people searching a site or sites on a regular basis, taking the term local beach hunter to new heights. 
If three or more people are searching the same area of the beach every day, it stands to good reason your percentages of finding something good are greatly effected by joining the crowd and searching the same site.
You could say in the previous scenario you have a 25% chance of finding something in the same area, perhaps less chance of recovering something of value.
If you choose wisely to search a different area the three regular hunters ignore, your chances of success shoot up to 100% if there is anything to the be found in the area you chose to search. 
If you have a hunting partner, you get to find approximately 50% of what ever there is in the area to find. 
Assuming there are no other people searching the site at that time and you are as skilled as your hunting partner.
Your chances of a successful hunt drop even more if you have more than one hunting partner. 
Use a non waterproof metal detector or wear the wrong clothing at the beach and you cannot search inside the water effectively.
Limiting your chances of recovering all possible finds in the water if it is the place to be, unless you take off your sneakers or flip flops and cover your metal detector control box in a plastic bag.
Crowded beaches do not always guarantee you will find something, especially if you are ignoring large areas of the beach that people use.
Think of the percentages the next time you go beach hunting, are you limiting your chances of success?
The answer is probably yes if you race to beat the competition to the same site at the beach every time you go metal detecting, the fact you are joining the competition lowers your percentages of a successful beach or water hunt.
If you only water hunt or only search in the wet sand or only search in the dry sand, you lower your percentages of having a successful hunt.
I played the percentages on my last two beach hunts and recovered eight pieces of gold jewelry, on a two hour water hunt and a two hour wet sand hunt.
On the water hunt I recovered two gold chains and a gold ring, searching a local beach inside the water opposite an old beach entrance I discovered a few years ago. 
On a wet sand hunt at a different beach, I recovered five gold rings taking advantage of an area I know is a popular local water hunting site. 
I know the wet sand is ignored by the water hunters who say "All the gold or 95% of the gold is in the water" yeh right! 
After scouting out the area and seeing good wet sand hunting signs, I figured the percentages of being successful were good on the next low tide. 
Eight pieces of gold jewelry in four total beach and water hunting hours, I like those percentages. 
Put the percentages on your beach or water hunting side, by hunting smarter not harder. 

Sweep slow low and level

Your sweep speed and search coil control are often overlooked money makers at the beach. 

Slowly sweeping a level search coil close to the sand throughout the sweeping motion, will lead to detecting more valuable items.

It is not the amount of hours you spend beach or water hunting with a metal detector, it is what you do in those hours. 

If you have to spend all day at the beach swinging a metal detector to find stuff, you are swinging your metal detector. 

I guarantee the less ground you cover slowly, the more targets  you will detect.

The more targets you detect and dig, the less hours you can physically stay out at the beach digging. 

My two or three hour beach and water hunts are intense, because  I use my beach reading skills and site selection to make sure I am detecting and digging targets not covering ground.

If your beach or water hunting plan is covering more ground than the competition, you are likely sacrificing technique and finds for ground coverage.

Sweeping slow low and level means sacrificing ground for finds at heavily hunted beaches.

Just one reason why a heavily hunted beach means nothing to me, I'm probably still going to get my share because I rely on site reading skills and technique. 

Detecting targets in the sand is what beach and water hunting is all about, not covering a beach before someone else shows up to detect. 

It makes perfect beach treasure hunting sense to give yourself as much chance of detecting targets as possible. 

Sweeping your search coil slow low and level, should make sure you are not covering an area too quickly.

My sweep technique is based on a three second sweep from left to right and right to left.

I do not step forward until I have swept my search coil in front of me twice, even overlapping my sweeps if I am using a mono search coil. 

On sandy beaches my search coil scuffs or scrubs the sand, for maximum target depth. 

If what I am searching for is within detection range of the metal detector and search coil I am using, it's going to be detected.

If I end up going home empty handed I know it was not there, but that does not happen very often when you sweep slow low and level. 
These two pieces of gold jewelry were recovered while trailing a couple of speedy water hunters this weekend.
Nothing to do with metal detector choice, everything to do with sweep speed and search coil control. 

Sensitivity and beach hunting

In my opinion, the wet sand is the real proving ground for metal detectors or search coils intended for beach hunting, you can add waterproof pin-pointers to that list too.

Salt levels change daily at beaches and black sand can show up after beach erosion or rough surf churns up the lower beach. 

Tweaking a VLF metal detector sensitivity or PI metal detector gain to suit the beach conditions is important, the reason I never turn my sensitivity control or gain  to a certain level and forget it.

I see that advice passed around on metal detecting forums, set your metal detector sensitivity to a certain position and off you go. 

That is ok as long as you are going to check and adjust the sensitivity level at some point to suit the ground you are covering. 

At saltwater beaches you need to adjust the sensitivity on your VLF metal detector to suit the salt levels present at the time you start metal detecting.

Not the same sensitivity level you used last time at the beach or the level you use all the time at the beach. 

The whole point of having a sensitivity control is to be able to adjust it so your metal detector is running smoothly and detecting a wide variety of targets at various depths.

Depending on the beach, you may be able to run hotter or it may be better to back off the sensitivity. 

My advice is to find a starting point, start searching and then tweak the sensitivity. 

Increase it to a level that causes a little chatter then back it down to where it runs smoothly.

If you are running noisy at the level you first chose, back off the sensitivity.

Find the slightly chattery level and then the best or most comfortable operating level. 

Too much chatter or too many false signals will cause you to miss good targets.

Lowering your threshold volume a little usually helps to smooth out and compliment a well adjusted sensitivity level. 

Don't be afraid to use Auto sensitivity if you have it and it allows you to run smoother. 

Sometimes it is better to detect all targets instead of missing targets because you are running too hot. 

Just because you are using a VLF metal detector it does not guarantee you have an advantage using discrimination, if you are losing depth or missing shallow targets because of sensitivity setting issues.

Get in the habit of adjusting your metal detector sensitivity control to suit the conditions you are about to search.

Remember just like driving a car, low dipped highlights in the fog are better than using full beams. Saltwater beach example, a lowered sensitivity level will help you to see through black sand and detect targets.

High car beams in open areas, allow you to see greater distance ahead. 

Beach example, a higher sensitivity level will help you to cut through the sand and detect deeper targets. 

Your metal detector sensitivity control should never be a set and forget control unless you run in Auto, as conditions always change. 

Set your sensitivity to suit the real time conditions at beaches as they change from day to day and sometimes from one tide to another tide. 

Are you setting and forgetting your sensitivity control, or are you maximizing your metal detectors sensitivity to detect small shallow targets and detect large targets at depth? 

In other words, are you leaving stuff behind for the next beach hunter because you do not take advantage of one of your metal detectors best assets. 

Beach hunting "L" plates

I remember back in England having to have a big red L for learner sticker on my car when I was first learning to drive.

When you first start beach and shallow water hunting you don't need an L plate as experienced beach hunters can easily spot a beginner from a distance.

I often see people new to beach hunting, but I don't look down my nose at them or mistakenly believe they are not competition.

They often have more chance of detecting something good than a seasoned beach or water hunter. 

The reason why is because they have not restricted themselves yet, got set in their beach hunting ways.

A seasoned beach or water hunter is more likely to head to one spot and search it the same way they always do. 

A beginner will search different areas, try different things and often dig unexpected items. 

Some of those recoveries are going to be good targets in unexpected beach or water hunting scenarios. 

In my opinion, the guy in the white sneakers and socks using a land detector up in the dry sand, has just as much chance of finding something good as the guy searching in the water dressed like a navy seal. 

Who the heck says you have to search a certain area or a certain way to detect good stuff at the beach, lost is lost at the beach and what you are searching for is often never where you think it is. 
If jewelry and coins are always found where you expect them to be, they would probably be referred to as waiting stuff not lost stuff.  
Sounds strange, but plenty of beach and water hunters return to the exact same places expecting to recover something else long after they recovered an initial find.
The reason I can return to certain beaches and see the same guys in the same areas doing the exact same thing I saw them doing the last time I searched those beaches. 
There is such a thing as being a local beach hunter, but same site same way same day same time hunting is just plain crazy.
Although, it is good knowing where other beach and water hunters will be while I am searching a different place filling my finds pouch. 

Hands up how many people reading this blog watch other people searching a completely different area and think they are wasting valuable detecting time doing that.

I'm the opposite, when I see a newbie searching a much different area to where I am searching I always wonder what they found.

I will often replicate what I saw a newbie doing at the beach, because they are often doing something 99% of other beach or water hunters would not "Waste" their time doing.

Although I have a lot of experience beach and water hunting I will never take my beach and water hunting L plates off.

Here are a few things people new to beach metal detecting often don't do which helps them to have beginners luck.

They do not read tide charts, have a favorite site, need to use the most expensive metal detector or the same metal detector everyone else is using, they are not hung up about competition, they are content with what they find and they are often having more fun than you! 

Beginners luck is often the best kind of luck, the very reason beginners have so much of it.

Throw caution and beach hunting misconceptions to the wind, have you ever though how would a beginner search the same beach and find something good? 

Beginners find good stuff experienced beach hunters ignore, so avoid taking your beach hunting L plates off.  

Local beach hunters

Local beach hunters are hard to beat, especially at heavily hunted beaches.

If you have to travel to detect a beach, you can be sure someone has searched that beach for years with a metal detector and knows the beach like the back of their hand.

Local beach hunters have a heck of an advantage over people who either travel to detect the same beaches or people who have just got into beach hunting.

I rely on local beach knowledge a lot, knowing what areas look good and what areas I have recovered good stuff at in the past.

There are beaches I travel to that I know better than locals who have only been searching them a year or two.

The conditions present and what a beach looked like at when I recovered a good find are very important memories to me. 

Over the years I have seen my local beaches change dramatically, after hurricanes have ripped them apart and after the city has dumped tons of sand back on them to make them higher and wider. 

Every so often a window of opportunity opens up at a local beach and I get to put my knowledge of local beaches to good use.

It may take months or several years before I see something I know is a good sign, that is the point of today's blog knowing where and why a local beach is open for business. 

A week ago I found good stuff at a beach that I have not recovered anything good at in a long time. 

Two years to be exact, but I never stopped checking the area out and took advantage of an opening.

A good friend of mine once described shipwreck salvage guys as sand movers, they are just moving sand. 

Unfortunately beach hunters have to wait for sand to move, but it does move eventually.

Behind many of my best finds there is a reason why they ended up in my finds pouch, it almost always has to do with knowledge of a local beach and previous experiences in the area.

Local beach knowledge is not just about knowing where you are likely to find stuff, it involves knowing what conditions change the beach.

Long term studying of surf and wind directions at your local beaches will help you to figure out when sand will move.

Just a few hours of constant surf from the right direction may change a beach for the better.

Much higher surf hitting the beach from a different direction may actually sand in the beach more.

You have to learn what type of surf improves conditions on your local beaches. 

I often use beaches similar to ones I search to gauge beach or water hunting conditions, checking beach cams.

If I see one beach is losing sand, I know other similar angled beaches are losing sand.

Using beach cams saves me from having to waste time traveling to check beaches out.

The better you know your local beaches the easier they are to search. 

Local beach hunters stay on top of the best sites at the beach. 

A few years ago, I made a three hour round trip drive to a beach after seeing a cut on a beach webcam.

Twelve pieces of gold jewelry in a five hour beach hunt and three more pieces of gold the next morning, putting knowledge of that beach and previous hunts there to good use.
Oh and finding a gold pendant with my name on was pretty cool too. 

Surprisingly easy places to find gold at the beach

With the weekend fast approaching here are a few surprisingly easy places to find gold at the beach.

Lifeguard tower steps 

Early morning beach hunters should always check around lifeguard tower steps, sometimes you don't need a metal detector to find good stuff.

After hours skinny dippers often take their jewelry and clothes off before hitting the water.

I have found watches, sunglasses, cell phones, wallets and gold chains just waiting to be picked up off lifeguard tower steps.

The area in front of the steps on the beach and in the water is also a great place to find gold.
Remember these type of areas are off limits during the daytime, so you are often the first person searching these type areas.

Beachside showers

Another great after hours area to search is around the beach showers, I have found everything from gold chains and bracelets to diamond ear rings around shower stands and hose pipes.

People do all the things that shake jewelry loose when showering off before leaving the beach.

I sometimes use a waterproof pin-pointer around the outskirts or edges of the shower area. 

Also check out drain covers many of the grids or screens just lift up, yeh I know I need serious help lol 

Gay areas

I can assure you gay gold is just as heavy, shiny and beautiful as straight gold. 

You can use other beach hunters intolerant views to your advantage if your local beach has an area popular with gays.
Gay marriage now means more wedding bands lost at the beach, and if you want to see fine jewelry a gay beach is the perfect place to see some serious bling.

If you see a pair of Union Jack speedos, that's me scooping up gold at places other beach and water hunters use as turn around points. 

Beach aerobics areas

Many swanky beach side hotels hold aerobics or fitness classes on the beach.

If you see a guy with Union Jack speedos and a CTX 3030 in their hand, yup that's me again looking for expensive jewelry shaken off to the oldies.

Concession stands 

You would think and rightfully so that you would find a lot of coins around concession stands on the beach, but you can also find gold.

Hands go in pockets to pay for stuff and gold taken off at the beach and put in pockets for safe keeping is pulled out and lost.

I have found a lot of gold chains and wedding rings around concession stands on the beach.

Sand castles and deep holes 

Hands up how many beach hunters have been asked to find a gold ring lost by someone playing with their kids at the beach.

Put your down now please, and never pass a large sand castle or dug hole you come across at beach without detecting around it. 

I should add not to search it while the people are still using it and at least attempt to fill any dangerous hole people may break an ankle stepping in.

I've had my share of nice diamond engagement rings around sand castles and dug holes, kiddy bling too at some beaches. 

If you don't be creative and search areas other people ignore at the beach, you leave easy beach hunting gold behind for others.