In need of help...

[lilniki]

Newbie here getting ready to swing her first beach. I get the gist of it, but I was wondering of there where any other helpful tips out there.
I have Fisher F2 and pin pointer, I do not have an official sand scoop but was planning on trying a new rig. I know I need to turn down the sensitivity and discriminate the iron. Is there anything I should think of?
BTW, I am headed to Ormond Beach, just North of Daytona.
Thanks in advance!
HH,
Niki

 

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[mommagpx]

Welcome and good luck!! Don't know much about that machine, nice to see another female on hear!!

 

[lilniki]

Thanks! Us girlies gotta stick together. Where do you swing?

 

[miser]

Hey! Welcome!

Ok, a few tips from a fellow newbie who loves the beach:

1. Make sure you ground balance the machine maually if it doesn't have an automatic ground balance feature built in (sorry, never used your detector so I don't know for sure).

2. You likely will not have to turn down the senstivity until you hit wet sand (why lose the depth until you have have to?).

3. You may need to re-ground balance on the wet sand. No big deal.

4. Get a long handled sand scoop if you can afford it. It really saves on your back. Also, get one made of stainless steel as the aluminum models are heavier. And if it is one of those that has the thin wire mesh in the rear, make sure you get one with a kick brace for your foot (without it, you're likely to bend the wire mesh when you use your foot to press the scoop into the sand). The thicker "Swiss cheese" scoops will not have that problem generally.

5. If you can, rig up a clip to your belt so you just drag the scoop behind you rather than carrying it (that gets old fast). That will allow you simply unclip it when you need it. Also, the scoop will leave a trail in the sand which will mark where you've already searched.

6. You may want to start by digging every signal until you get used to your detector's reaction at the beach. That way you can make sure you really are passing over a lead weight and not a gold ring. Some might tell you to dig everything anyway, but in this heat, I tend to choose to discriminate a little bit.

 

[lilniki]

Awesome tips miser, thanks!

 

[miser]

You welcome lilniki.

Oh, one more thing. Take all the jewelry off your hands before you go hunting. Once I had a handful of sand and was waving it over the detector coil to see if the item was there. I kept getting a positive signal, not realizing that it was picking up my wedding band.

 

[lilniki]

Good Tip, that definitely sounds like something I would do. I have a plastic trowel that I use and couple of metal ones from the garden for the little one to use. Well, he usually ends up with the plastic one and I forgot and scare the bejeezes out of self. Thanks I will keep that in mind!
HH,
Niki

 

[Montauk3]

My best tip for a beginner is this: DON'T GET DISCOURAGED! DIG EVERYTHING!

Of course you'll dispose of all trash properly. Right?

Good, Welcome to the hobby.

 

[lilniki]

Most definitely! I do that no matter where I am or what I am doing. Leave no trace.
HH,
Niki

 

[DrJoePrime]

Welcome! I heard a lot of good things about the F-2. I've got the F-4 and a White's PI that I use.

My piece of advice is the scoop. Definitely get a scoop. Temporarily you can use something like a french fry basket. I've also picked up some decorative mesh baskets at the Goodwill store for like 50c (back early in my career).

The best purchase though was a medium handled mesh basket scoop, used for $20.

In the beginning dig everything. Gold rings can come in as nickels or pennies or anywhere in between. Silver rings as 10c+. Take the trasah off the beach and you won't need to find it again next time you go there.

HH Joe

 

[mumszie]

Here are my tips.

1. Wear some type of foot protection whether it be tennis shoes, dive boot etc. In or Out of the water - wear foot protection!

2. Read all you can about hunting the beaches on the Golden Olde site Here is the site address


http://www.nmhra.netfirms.com/pulltab/

3. If you don't want to take your rings off (wedding rings) wear a glove over them so they don't slip off. I wear only one cheap glove over mine and when that wears out I wear the other one.

4. Last but not least HAVE FUN! When it starts to be work... it's time to quit!

 

[rsc]

Foot wear is a must. gloves, hat, and sun screen also.....The dry sand you should be able to detect with almost normal settings. Wet sand is very profitable, but you may need to reduce the sens.
Scoops are very helpful, but as long as you stay out of the water, you just need a small/mid size shovel....NO NEED to get on your knees.....have fun and do NOT show your finds to anyone..except us.....LOl HH Gayle

 

[petersra]

Welcome Niki. You will find more of everything in the dry sand, except jewelry that is. Mostly Coins, trash and toys. Jewelry is lost in the dry sand occasionally but mostly in the water. You need to think about how things get lost, fall out of pockets, put on the towel so you don't loose it in the water and then someone picks up the towel, a thunderstorm comes up and everyone scrambles to get off the beach, someone throwing a ball with slippery hands, horseplay in the water, little toddler pulling on mommy or daddy's ring finger, that kind of stuff. Then think about where those things take place and hunt there. For the dry sand, the best time of day is in the late afternoon or evening when you can see the beach nests where people had their chair or blanket. I will give you one day at the beach with a garden trowel before you say, "I'm getting a decent scoop, NOW". The easier it is to scoop and quickly recover your target, the quicker you get on to the next target. The gold ring is ALWAYS the target you didn't have time to get to and someone else finds it. I started with a hand held dry sand scoop and it worked well in the dry sand, daaaaa. Wet sand was too hard to dig in (blisters the first day) and the sand would not sift through the holes unless I carried it to the water and sloshed it. From that I graduated to a long handled shovel for the wet sand with my dry sand scoop hooked over the top of the handle. Drag it behind me to show where I hunted so I don't hunt the same area twice. Dig it up easily in the wet sand and move the pile around with your foot to find the target. Pretty simple, and sand doesn't seem to stick to the gold so it shows up pretty quickly. I still dragged the shovel in the dry sand and used the dry sand scoop. That combination worked pretty well for wet and dry sand. However, in the water you NEED a long handled scoop, the bigger the better if you are dealing with wave action. You want to get the target the first time if you can, before the wave comes and knocks you away from your target. I now use my long handles SS scoop for everything on the beach or in the water. Works great. I wear water shoes and gloves.