Target separation rules!

In my opinion, target separation is always more important than target depth when searching for jewelry at tourist beaches, the opposite applies to searching for older stuff at less trashy beach sites. 
It still surprises me just how much value is put into target depth at tourist beaches by people searching for jewelry. 
From experience I can tell you the hardest jewelry to detect is often the shallowest jewelry, I know because I make a living snagging shallow gold at heavily hunted beaches. 
Gold left behind by speedy grid coverers and golf swingers, gold just waiting to be detected by a person not bogged down digging deep pennies. 
I use search coils designed for target separation and my ears as my main discrimination tool.
I also never worry about what Im missing by hunting all the time in all metal or swinging a pizza box size search coil, I concentrate on detecting shallow or partially masked gold.
A gold slump always has more to do with site selection, equipment choice and search techniques than beach or water hunting conditions. 
For example, I often use an eight (7 1/4) inch search coil on my Minelab Excalibur to spice things up.
It is a discontinued size search coil, I assume because first time Excalibur buyers always preferred the larger 10-inch search coil model for ground coverage and target depth.
Swing an 8-inch search coil at a trashy beach entrance and you will hear gold the 10-inch search coil will not be able to detect.
A perfect example of recovery speed between targets being more important than target depth. 
You can detect a piece of shallow gold, or keep walking looking for a deeper piece of gold.
If you search heavily hunted beaches, why on earth would you be concerned about deep targets.
Fresh dropped shallow gold being hidden because its laying next to a bottle cap or penny should be the thing you are searching for.
Just my opinion, but I believe there is always something to find if you find a way to find it.

Early bird gets the worm

I have seen plenty of spectacular sunrises and sunsets since my last blog post, not sure where these photos were taken I just happened to pull over and click away from both directions as the sun rose and kissed the water. 

A good topic for a beach and water hunting blog as the early bird often gets the worm, especially at heavily hunted tourist beaches. 
I prefer early morning hunts at tourist beaches for two reasons, I do not like being seen and I like finding gold.
There are other good reasons to hit the beach early, including not having to deal with questions from inquisitive beach goers and the unwanted attention of any beach or water hunting competition in the area.
Having to take your headphones off and answer "Any luck?" questions from other people metal detecting can eat into your time.
I love watching other beach or water hunters chatting and I will often pick up the pace a little to take advantage of chatty competition.
Another reason I don't like to chat to other people metal detecting at the beach is I feel guilty lying, as "Nope" always means heck yes! 
If I had the choice of early predawn searching or night hunting, I always choose predawn hunting.
Sometimes I see beach or water hunting situations worth hanging around for, perhaps opportunities completely missed if I could not see them late at night.
You are also more likely to be able to take advantage of a good water hunting situation at dawn, it is less likely you hit the water at night. 
At tourist type beaches you sometimes find more stuff on the lower beach without a metal detector at sunrise, paper money, cameras, cell phones, sunglasses, are just a few of things you can pick up at sun rise. 
I see many a beach hunter coming on the beach as Im leaving the beach, too late the early bird got the worm! 

No Rhyme or reason

Every so often I run across something somewhere that has me thinking what the heck is this stuff doing here.

So far this year has been full of great surprises and I know why, It's because I have taken the trouble to search areas that even I did not like the look of.

Beaches or areas that you never see anyone using, places with no good signs to attract a beach hunter.  

No parking lots, beach entrances, beach side houses, hotels or other places you figure someone lost something at.

Head scratching finds recovered from head scratching places,  when you are lucky enough to stumble across such a place you often do really well.

The uglier the beach, the prettier the gold if you keep the location to yourself. 

I am a firm believer the majority of beach and water hunters are birds of a feather who flock together. 

Some would argue why waste time searching off the beaten track when there are sites known by everyone to produce a trinket or two.

It often works out to be about the same amount of time wasted, only sometimes you discover untapped areas you can have all to yourself.

Battle it out and get skunked at heavily hunted beaches, or get skunked trying somewhere different, I know what I prefer to do.

Unfortunately, the more experienced you get the easier it is to get lured into believing you always have to go to a certain place to find.

In my opinion, fortune favors the person who try's different areas as in the long run the more productive sites you have up your sleeve the more likely you are to avoid gold droughts. 

Face value

On my travels this year I have had the opportunity to search many heavily eroded beaches and recovered some pretty impressive finds which I will show before the end of the year.
A couple of trophy beach hunting finds came out of the vertical face of cuts on the beach.
The vertical face of a cut beach is often ignored by many beach hunters, because it is either too physically demanding to search or a metal detector is just too chattery with a search coil used on edge. 
One of the reasons I use the metal detectors I do is because they can do this type of work. 
Of course, when you search an area less hunted you are always going to have a great day at a productive site.
The vertical face of a cut beach is best searched using a metal detector with a 6 to12 inch size search coil, larger search coils tend to be too heavy for this type of beach work.
I actually prefer using elliptical search coils for searching eroded beaches, you can get closer to the base of a cut.
Using a search coil with a good side detection capability also helps, so too does a metal detector harness or hip mount kit if you use a heavy metal detector.
I have recovered many different things from the vertical face of cuts over the years, from Spanish treasure coins and colonial artifacts to modern gold chains and diamond rings.
The better the site the more chance you have of recovering something good if you flip your metal detector and search coil sideways and go full crab mode. 
I have walked onto heavily hunted eroded beaches that have been pounded by local beach hunters, but still pulled stuff out of the vertical face of a cut, long after a storm has passed.
Heck sometimes you get lucky and see stuff dangling or just waiting to be plucked out of the wall of the cut.
Are you missing a find of a lifetime by ignoring the vertical face of a cut beach?

11 days without internet and the best metal detector at the beach

I will spare you the details about hurricane Irma, the loss of power and get right to the good stuff.

During our power outage I spent my spare time answering texts and messages on my phone, with the number one topic being metal detector or search coil related from people who thought that was the most important thing on my mind after the hurricane lol

It normally is but not this one time, anyway I fielded an unusually high number of questions from people who wanted to know what I thought was the best metal detector, several people asking the question took up metal detecting at heavily hunted beaches.

My reply was the best metal detector you can take to the beach is you, if you expose yourself to a wide variety of beach hunting sites and conditions.

Getting beach hunting savvy does not cost a darn thing, knowing where and why to search at the beach comes with experience and learning from experiences. 

Watch and learn to read people using the beach, see how your recoveries relate to when and where people use the beach.

Look for features that catch your eye, especially at beaches you are likely to return to search. 

For example bottom beach steps exposed, or a rocky area on the lower beach,  two things that could be good future beach hunting signs.

I rely heavily on site selection and beach reading skills, along with knowledge of my local beaches. 

Heck I believe I could probably kick butt at the beach without a metal detector and just a spade for digging.

I know why I am at most sites and what to look for at the beach, a metal detector just makes life easier pinpointing jewelry and coins.

You could say a metal detector is just a tool you use to compliment your beach or water hunting skills.

It should not be the opposite way around, if you have no beach or water hunting skills even the most expensive metal detector will not change your fortunes.

I sometimes put my metal detector down and use a pin-pointer in areas I know contain good stuff, especially when I know a small but potentially productive area is littered with iron. 

The less you rely on your metal detector, the more you will eventually find with your metal detector. 

Something to think about if you believe your metal detector is holding you back from finding good stuff.

When you learn to drive, you can drive any car, the one you choose to buy within your budget is usually the one you are most comfortable driving. 

Metal detectors are the same, learn where and how to use it. 

Patience is a beach treasure hunting virtue

I am making the most of my computer time before hurricane Irma hits fortress Drayton cutting off power, and you know darn well I am checking out beach cams and news reports from the beach.
Probably wishful thinking as the beaches are in evacuation zones and we are under a curfew this afternoon. I have replied to a ton of when is the best times to search after a hurricane and what is the best metal detector to use questions, although our house and family is my top priority and beach hunting is a distant second. 
However my toes are tingling at the prospect of getting through this powerful storm and getting back to the beaches.
Watching TV news beach reports I have seen people already on beaches metal detecting as tropical storm force winds from feeder bands are moving across our area, but you will not see me out there yet for obvious reasons including I know better lol 
Some of my best finds have come after coastal storms have eroded beaches, many weeks or even months afterwards. 
Believe me, you don't have to be out on the beach during the storm or be one of the first people to hit the beach after the storm to find good stuff.
Hit the beaches when it is safe to do so and go with your gut feeling as far as the best place you are likely to detect what you are searching for.
I am partial to old stuff, so I will be hitting the best areas I know in search of older coins and jewelry. 
Beaches close to home, as traveling to and from distant beaches is a waste of metal detecting time and precious gas in the current situation. 
From previous experiences beach hunting after storms, I know I will be using a VLF metal detector and a little discrimination.
Digging everything on a ripped apart beach is no fun, think target separation over target depth. 
When conditions settle down and it is possible to get to more beaches, you should be able to do well many weeks after a storm, one of the perks of being a beach hunter who tries different beaches.
The more time that has passed after the storm, the more digging everything using an all metal search mode is the way to go, depending on the site.
Water hunting may be the best option at many beaches long after a storm has passed, this is where beach and water reading skills come into play.
This 5 ounce chunk of Spanish 17th century religious silver came off a Florida beach a full month after a hurricane, probably because it was a good hundred yards past everyones turn around point. 

Patience is a virtue when searching after a coastal storm, wait until it is safe to hit the beach then hammer areas you hope have opened up. 
If you are going to hit the same place everyone else is hitting, you better be a good beach hunter.
Although, patience can be a virtue at the most heavily hunted beach if you take your time and cover the sand instead of the whole beach. 
Its not who gets to the beach metal detecting first after a storm, its where you go and why!

Everyones favorite metal detector

You really find out just how much you like and I suppose depend on a certain metal detector when you have a perfect metal detecting opportunity.  
What would you put in your suitcase to go search a dream site, or use when a perfect treasure hunting scenario is ahead of you.
I know what metal detector I would use, a reliable one I know like the back of my hand. 
Although I have used a few metal detectors over the years, I rarely move away away from the type of metal detector I have become comfortable using.
I look at a metal detector as an important tool for beach and water hunting, but not something that is going to set me apart from other beach or water hunters, its just a metal detector. 
A lot of thought, practice and testing went into my choice of metal detector, it does all the things I want it to do so I can have a successful outing and just as importantly it detects the things I am searching for.
Im the operator and I use my metal detector to help me detect metal objects in the areas I like to search.
Site selection, site reading and search techniques make sure your choice of metal detector detects the stuff you would like to find.
Your choice of metal detector is important, but unfortunately you only find out what metal detector is best for you after you figure out what you are searching for in the areas you search.
In my opinion, metal detectors are just a tool and a craftsman must select  the right tool for the right job. 
I remember a friend and wise man Stu Auerbach once telling me to start off with "In my opinion" when talking about metal detectors to metal detecting folk as people are passionate about their favorite metal detectors.
I go one step further by not mentioning what favorite metal detector I always put in the suitcase.
If you have a favorite, you probably know what Im talking about.