What competition?

This diamond encrusted 18K gold chain was part of a four ounce haul of gold I recovered one morning a few years ago. 

The tourist beach this bling came off is heavily hunted day and night, but luckily for me everyone says "It's all in the water." 

It was still dark when I walked onto the beach, but several people were already beach and water hunting with headlamps on. 

After a couple of hours I decided to move to a beach closer to home and made my way back to the point I had entered the beach. 

As I usually do, I decided to search a few yards past the place I first walked onto the beach.

The gold chain was waiting for me and my quirky habit of searching a few yards past the place I walked onto the beach paid off, again!

It was still early in the morning when I hit the local beach, but not too early for other beach and water hunters. 

Two guys were searching the wet sand and two people were water hunting, I figured I had put an hour on the parking meter I may as well stay. 

I was squeezed in between the two water hunters searching in deeper water and the wet sanders.

My first signal in the water was a yard of 14K gold chain, 36 inches of gold wrapped around my scoop basket.

I put the 2.5 ounce gold chain in my finds pouch, turned my metal detector off and walked back to my van. 

It may sound crazy, but I always wanted to do that, find something good and just walk off the beach lol! 

Four ounces of gold chain in just over 2 hours of beach and water hunting, at two different heavily hunted beaches. 

Now you know why I smile when people moan about competition, I have no competition as it is just me, my metal detector and a quest to find gold.

Which brings me to the point of this blog, the only competition you really have is the ocean and sand hiding the gold. 

Sites within a beach site

Living in south Florida, I need to make my beach and water hunting time count as I search at very heavily hunted beaches.
One of the ways I come away from beaches with gold jewelry is using my knowledge of local beaches.
I walk off beaches with gold jewelry on a regular basis, but ironically I do not do a lot of walking.
I prefer to select my sites carefully, often finding the site within a site is more important than the actual beach you search.
Anyone can select a site to go beach or water hunting, but not everyone can figure out where they have the best chance of recovering jewelry within the site.
Two things have always helped me to stay one step ahead of the competition on heavily hunted south Florida beaches,  keeping my productive sites within a site a secret and hard work.
Every beach has a few sites that are always more productive than the rest of the beach.
When you know where they are, you can continue to plunder them whenever they are ready for mining.
This past weekend I searched two busy beaches and I recovered a couple of pieces of gold jewelry at each beach.  The gold was recovered from sites within a site I knew from previous experience gave me the best shot at recovering gold.
My low tide beach hunts were hectic last weekend, as both sites within sites I chose to search held a lot of targets.
Relying on local beach knowledge and former jewelry hot spots at the beach should help prevent you from returning home empty handed.
Knowing one or two productive sites at every beach you visit is a heck of an advantage over the competition. 
It will save you from having to walk or wander around without a plan, especially when prime beach or water hunting situations come along. 
For example, last Saturday morning the long tourist lower beach looked the same from the upper beach.
I decided to try three hot spots that have been very good to me on previous trips to this beach, but I did not get past the first hot spot as it was not worth moving on when I started pulling up coins and jewelry. 
I saw five other guys metal detecting in the distance and I remember thinking how lucky I was not having to walk the entire length of the beach, and spend all day at the beach to find gold. 
As my jewelry finds show, its not how far you walk or how long you hunt, its how many pieces of jewelry you scoop up.

A tale of two diamond rings

These two platinum and gold diamond rings appraised for a cool $23.000.00 and they were found using the same metal detector but in two very different areas of the beach. 

I do things differently to the main beach and water hunting advice passed around on internet metal detecting forums, you can probably see that the jewelry I pull off the beach and out of the water on a regular basis. 
I doubt you would see many detecting forum experts telling you to go jewelry hunting at high tide, or go water hunting at beaches that see few people swimming, but that is exactly why these two chunks of ice are now resting in a safety deposit box at the bank.
The platinum Tiffany ring with 1.5 carat diamond was found last year at a small beach entrance that water hunters would barely notice on their way to hunt with the detecting crowds at a popular tourist beach. 
It was found using a waterproof pulse induction metal detector with an eight inch mono search coil,  designed more for hunting for small gold nuggets than gold jewelry, but it detects plenty of small pieces of gold jewelry too.
Finding platinum jewelry using a pulse induction metal detector with an 8-inch mono search coil at a quiet out of the way beach, would be considered water hunting blasphemy on the detecting forums.  The 14K gold ring with 2 carat iceberg was found earlier this summer in the high tide line at high tide using the same Minelab SDC 2300 pulse induction metal detector, another case of beach hunting blasphemy. 
Two very different jewelry hunting strategies that went against the usual beach and water hunting grain, but worked like a charm.
When I go beach or water hunting, I go out of my way to try different things and hopefully recover something good.
I never go to the beach and do the same thing every time I go metal detecting,  there are just too many variables to search the same way at every beach. 
In my opinion, it is better to go beach hunting where ever and when ever, as nothing is ever predictable trying to detect a gold ring or a coin in a wide open sandy space. 
Setting yourself apart from the beach hunting crowd is a great way to insure you do not endure slumps or long droughts between finds at the beach.  
The more rigid you stick to the same "Ground hog day " style beach or water hunting plan, the longer you will go between finds.

Following signs to recover gold in the water.

This past weekend I ran across an area in the water that held a lot of green encrusted coins. 
Anytime you start recovering "Greenies" you have a good chance of recovering silver coins or gold jewelry. 
Saturday morning was no exception, after scooping up a handful of encrusted coins and fishing weights I pulled up an encrusted 10K gold ring.  

The hard packed sand that held the coins, fishing weights and rings could not be seen in the water, it was covered over with approximately six inches of sand. 
The darker and deeper water was the only visible clue from the lower beach, the trough was created by a combination of wind and waves opposite an area with older condos. 
Many Florida beach and water hunters ignore beaches with high rise condos, in favor of tourist areas where other beach and water hunters flock to. 
I like the sight of gold jewelry too much to just search the same sites over and over again. 
The trough or trench, was about 10 ft wide by 100 feet long and the hard bottom under the fluffy sand contained more coins and jewelry than pull tabs, bottle caps and other lightweight trash.  I recovered two other gold rings, five silver rings, three junk rings and very little trash in 2.5 hours. 
There were actually three excellent jewelry hunting signs at the water hunting site on Saturday morning. 
A narrow strip of darker water running paralel to shore, lead fishing weights and green coins. 
Any one of those gold signs can help you be successful, all three signs scream do not walk area from the area. 
I swung by the same site on the way to work this morning, just like that the site was sanded in.
You often only have a small window of opportunity between tides to make the most of a good water hunting situation.
I hammered the site in my allotted metal detecting time and came away with some goodies.

Discrimination by depth

Early Saturday morning I hit a south Florida beach that has several bars and restaurants opposite the beach. 
It is a beach that has been very good to me through the years and Saturday morning was no exception. 
By the condition of the flat gold necklace and the location it was found, I would say it was probably lost after the bars had closed. 
The gold necklace was an easy surface find and I saw part of it on top of the dry sand when I turned my headlamp on to scoop the target. 
On a heavily hunted beach, this is the type of area that is best covered quickly before the competition shows up.
My favorite way of covering a stretch of tourist beach quickly is by using the target depth indicator on my metal detector.
I discriminate by depth, stopping to scoop targets that my target depth readout indicate are six inches deep or shallower. 
My reasoning is that on heavily hunted beaches there are probably no deep targets, so why not concentrate on recovering good shallow targets.
For beach hunters who are obsessed with target depth, there are often just as many deep junk targets as shallow junk targets on a tourist beach.
Using the target depth indicator to cover ground faster, is the opposite to what many people do when searching parks for old silver coins, ignoring shallow targets and only digging deep target. 
I have done quite well before sunrise in the dry sand this year, searching for fresh dropped jewelry on tourist beaches. 
Mainly because I make the most of my limited beach hunting time, by concentrating my time and effort searching for shallow targets. 
I am not a box hunter, I mix things up and try different search techniques to suit the beach conditions. 
Many beach hunters, use the same search technique and search the same way every time they go to the beach. 
Change is good for a beach or water hunter,  it leads to unpredictable finds at the beach. 
While covering areas quickly is not one of my favorite beach hunting tips,  it can be a very effective jewelry hunting technique in the right situation. 
Opposite beach bars and nightclubs, it helps to know what you are looking for and how deep those intended targets are likely to be. 
Or you could stop and scoop every target on popular beaches and hope no other beach hunter puts their search coil over jewelry before you do.

The jewelry to coins recovery ratio.

Recently I have had several beach and shallow water hunters contact me for advice, wanting to know why they have no problem finding coins but struggle to detect jewelry. 
They point to their equipment and ask if changing metal detectors or search coils will make a difference. 
Before changing metal detectors or search coils, I advise a change of search technique or timing if you struggle to detect jewelry. 
Coins being flat discs are easier to detect at the beach than jewelry, which is often made of several different alloys and comes in all shapes and sizes.
There are also many more coins lost at the beach than pieces of jewelry lost at the beach. 
On beaches in less populated areas, the gap between lost coins and jewelry may be even wider. 
Sometimes jewelry is just not there to find, and no metal detector or search coil will make a difference. 
At tourist beaches you should not have a problem finding jewelry, no matter how heavily hunted the beach is, or what metal detector and search coil you use. 
If you are struggling to detect jewelry at a tourist beach, you need to look into your metal detecting technique first, or the times you go metal detecting. 
In my opinion, technique and timing are the big two solutions to balancing out the jewelry to coins ratio. 
Where there are coins, you can find jewelry if you slow down and methodically search the area. 
A level search coil swept slowly just on or slightly above the sand will detect jewelry, especially if you overlap the area you just swept over by half. 
Over lapping search coil sweeps,  automatically forces you to slow down which improves your jewelry hunting chances. 
As far as timing, the best time to go beach or water hunting is anytime you feel like it. 
Far too many beach and water hunters tilt the coin / jewelry scale towards the side of coins by spending too much time clock watching.
For example, waiting until low tide, only jewelry hunting on certain days, or waiting for more favorable beach conditions. 
Try to think of your metal detector as just a tool or machine to find jewelry at the beach. 
Like any tool or machine you want to become an expert at using, you have to use it appropriately and often to become an expert. 
When I am on a job painting my customers say I make it look easy, when I am at a beach doing the hobby I love, my competition say I own a jewelry store. 
Is it my paint brushes, rollers, metal detectors and search coils making it look easy, or the crafts of using those tools? 
Your probably always going to find more coins than jewelry at the beach, but you will find jewelry with good timing and search techniques. 

Beach hunting after a strong coastal storm

With tropical storm Erika making its way to Florida, my inbox has been full of messages from people asking for post storm beach hunting tips, so heres a few tips. 
When beaches are safe to search with a metal detector after a major storm has eroded beaches, you can find anything almost anywhere on the beach.
You may also find almost anything anywhere on the beach for several days after a major storm has blown through an area. 
Patience can be a virtue if you wait for the wind and waves to erode the beaches, instead of hammering a beach during and straight after a storm.
I remember a few years ago hitting a Treasure Coast beach with a six feet cut running for a couple of miles.
Walking off that shipwreck beach I could not believe I had to go home empty handed, especially as I had the beach all to myself for about four hours.  
I returned to the exact same beach three days later to see if anything had washed back in with the returning sand. 
Three silver Spanish reales were my reward for trying again, this is a prefect example of why you do not always have to be the first person at an eroded beach to recover good stuff.
After patience comes equipment choice,  always use a good metal detector you have experience with and confidence in its abilities to detect what you are looking for. 
Dont bring a gun to a knife fight, on a beach with several feet of sand removed from it, try not to worry about deep targets. 
Im my opinion, a VLF metal detector with a little discrimination is the best tool for searching eroded beaches with plenty of relatively shallow targets. 
Go for the easy targets within reach using a good VLF metal detector as most beaches are very trashy after being eroded by a storm.
A pulse induction metal detector is a better choice of equipment for covering areas that have obviously been heavily hunted by other people metal detecting. 
You have the advantage of target depth, after all the easier to detect targets are recovered on an eroded stretch of beach by people using VLF metal detectors. 
An often over looked factor is fatigue, try to use lightweight or balanced treasure hunting gear, so you can stay out on the beach longer instead of nursing a sore metal detector arm at home. 
Also rely on your own beach hunting intuition or instincts, instead of second hand and dated beach reports, make your own headlines instead of hearing about what other people have found.   
Beach erosion is when your knowledge of local beaches becomes a huge advantage.
You can pick and plan the sites you are going to search after a storm, I often think about places I have found lots of great stuff and the conditions needed to open them up. 
For a beach hunter there is not greater thrill than searching an eroded stretch of beach and filling your finds pouch.
After you have searched an eroded beach, you will be more prepared to know what to do when it happens again.