Tidal range and its effects on beach detecting strategy...is there any?

[hobbit]

Take two hypothetical, fairly busy tourist beaches. They are both miles long and relatively wide with pockets of greater activity and the occasional upscale resort. There is WAY too much sand to thoroughly cover all areas between tidal swings. It is summertime and conditions are sanded in with few obvious cuts or troughs. Recent drops are really the only ticket. Both beaches slope very gradually. There is one big difference between them: one has a 3 foot average tidal swing, while the other has an 8 foot average tidal swing. As a consequence, one has LOTS more wet sand than the other. That sand both appears and disappears at a faster rate due to the greater tidal flow. Where you stand with your toes in the surf at the average low tide is 8 feet deep at the average high tide. Is there any difference in the way you would approach detecting the two beaches? Would you choose one type of machine over another? Where would you spend your time in order to maximize your potential? There is competition from other detectorists and most gold dropped in the water probably will slip beyond detection range in just a day or so...

 

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[CASPER-2]

If I live near by - I work it systematically
if it is a new beach - I do a "stock market" pattern and try finding a concentration zone
I have had times that the greatest activity areas sucked and I made a killing at the farthest areas from that area
did the stuff move there - is that spot never hit by others
that high activity area is definitely gonna get pounded by others - so then you got to rely on timing
and hope you get in there when the stuff is just lost or before the other guy does
I have said this in the past - you can have a beach that gets 1000 people a day
and you can have a beach that gets about 50 visitors a day
if none of those 1000 people lose anything
and 5 people on the smaller beach do -
yes your odds are always greater with spots of higher concentration - but
if you have not been there - album with some of my stories
JULY/AUG 2008 - PG1 | Flickr - Photo Sharing!

and another title - "Where should I go"

MAR/APR 2010 - ARTICLE ON BEACH/WATER HUNTING | Flickr - Photo Sharing!

might help some and give others ideas

 

[OBN]

Slanted beach, fresh drops, limited time to hunt the lowtide wetsand area only..I use a long reach excalibur. Most of the time there is a lane formed by the waves/etc. Finding this lane one most use All metal because ferrious and non ferrious can be in the lane. Having a wide swing detector you can find and stay inline easier, most of the time I will mark the lane, all targets, by kicking the sand above the bad targets and moving on, being able to look back and see a pattern. Many time there other natural markers where I hunt, like a shell lane, heavy objects or even a black sand lane, these will help you lineup and adjust to new patterns. The long reach excaliburs are carbon fiber, with whites tallman lower shafts. Giving them about a 10 footwide swing.........

 

[hamiddetecting]

Slanted beach, fresh drops, limited time to hunt the lowtide wetsand area only..I use a long reach excalibur. Most of the time there is a lane formed by the waves/etc. Finding this lane one most use All metal because ferrious and non ferrious can be in the lane. Having a wide swing detector you can find and stay inline easier, most of the time I will mark the lane, all targets, by kicking the sand above the bad targets and moving on, being able to look back and see a pattern. Many time there other natural markers where I hunt, like a shell lane, heavy objects or even a black sand lane, these will help you lineup and adjust to new patterns. The long reach excaliburs are carbon fiber, with whites tallman lower shafts. Giving them about a 10 footwide swing.........

View attachment 641276

Good job and you are killer of hight technics. Thank you for sharing, i wish you have great day and happy hunting.

 

[bigscoop]

Assuming both beaches are new to me....my first objective is to observe "everything" throughout one or two complete tide change cycles, and preferably on the weekend when the beach is at its busiest. I want to know where people congregate at low tide and at high tide, where they congregate and swim at high tide and low tide, where the accessible troughs and rips are at during low tide, which units are rental units and which ones are not, where the lifeguard stations are, where the off beach access locations are at, which direction the currents are moving, anything I can use to my advantage. I'm always looking and observing, even when I'm in the water with my detector in hand.

Once I'm actually hunting my first objective is to try to establish where the most productive "zones" or "bands" are at as most beaches both above and below the waterline will have them. Once I get dialed in on these things I'm all about tight pattern hunting, where most guys hunt the lanes and troughs in a parallel pattern I hunt them back and forth across their width. When I'm hunting the wet sand I hunt from dry to waterline in a tight back and forth pattern until I can establish a productive zone or lane, and, I always move pretty slow with the best coil control I can achieve weather I'm in the water or not.

As far as machines, I only use two, the Excal and the CZ and I always prefer to use the larger coils on each and I always try to use the highest sensitivity I can, though sometimes neither a large coil or high sens setting is possible. And last, if it's a really old beach, then that can change everything depending on my objective for the day.

 

[hobbit]

I am thinking that in an area of very significant tidal variation, that one's time might be better spent hunting the low tide wet sand at night rather than hunting in the water during daylight. This is not my first choice of ways to detect, because I much prefer being in the water and enjoying the eyecandy and sunshine. It is just that you can move so much more rapidly out of the water rather than in it, coupled with the fact that the great variation in water depth on the beach during a tidal swing puts you directly over potential fresh drops throughout a much wider area than would be the case on a beach with a smaller tidal variation. An awful lot of that wet sand would have been prime swimming and wading territory at some point during the day, plus you could seek out those lines and holes where heavy items deposit much more rapidly than you could in the water...I thinking you guys have it right...cover as much ground as you can at a beach like this...and forget about thoroughness until you can isolate a "line" or "hole"...

 

[dewcon4414]

My towel lines seems to change.... i say lines because normally there are two. They change with the season based on where the tides move up the beach and its deposits. Good information guys. I like those low tide areas as well knowing that they were 8 ft deep at high tide. But that high and low tide dictates where people will be. If the tides are negative at night and high during the day then people arent getting out as far as they would be if it were reversed. So even if you dont get in the water at night.... your best bet could still be that low water line at night. You also have a constant redeposit of sand in the high and low tide area which move surface and lighter targets around that could change daily. Hunting a beach that has produced for you before helps also. You notice targets tend to settle in the same area over and over or the sand moves in such a way that new targets are exposed. Its like gold hunting..... people ask where should i hunt, the answer is to start by hunting where you have found gold. Try and see which way the sand is shifting.... sometimes it removes sand from the North... other times from the South depending on the duration and which way the waves are coming in. I hunt a lot like you as well big scoop slow close pattern back and forth rather than with the beach in the high traffic areas. Takes more time but i feel like i cover the area better. There are times a PI would be the best machine on that wet sand.... but the longer the tide line the more those light tiny targets move and you might find yourself digging to much trash. I tend to find more GOOD targets at the wave line or high water line than in between.... might just be my beach or having a 10 inch coil.

Dew

 

[bigscoop]

If I had to choose only one "line" to hunt on my area beaches it would be what I call, "the bunker line". Now this is one my area beaches and beaches like them, but this line has been very consistent and productive for me. Basically this line is that stretch of sand where items are dragged back from the wet sand areas and also pushed into from the first wave-break trough. In other words, it is that "first steep edge" or first drop off between the wet sand and the first trough. A lot of items get forced into this bunker line from both directions. I see a lot of guys hunting the top of this bunker at low tide as they are walking the waterline but I never see any of them hunting the water side or inside slope of this bunker. However, this inside slope is where I find a large number of my quality finds. The dynamics of the beach make this a top spot to hunt because this is where the force of both the returning water and the incoming water meet. As a result, this entire bunker line just becomes a collection area for items that are being moved and pushed around by both these forces.