Shallow water technique.....questions?

Surfview

Full Member
Jul 1, 2012
105
38
Marineland
Detector(s) used
Excalibur II
Primary Interest:
Beach & Shallow Water Hunting
I use a minelab Excalibur and would appreciate any suggestions for detecting in east coast of Florida shallow salt water. I do ok with the Excalibur in the wet sand, etc but have difficulty controlling the coil in shallow salt water. Also have trouble with constantly changing tones. After 10 minutes or so I get frustrated and go back to the beach and out of the water. I seem to have trouble no matter how rough or calm the water might be. If you've detected the east coast of Florida you know there is most always a little wave action.

I have found a few small rings, lots of coins, lots of trash on the beach, but I want to spend more time in the water if I can learn to control this darn thing.

Any suggestions or a description of your shallow water technique would be appreciated.
 

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Treasure_Hunter

Administrator
Staff member
Jul 27, 2006
48,458
54,900
Florida
Detector(s) used
Minelab_Equinox_ 800 Minelab_CTX-3030 Minelab_Excal_1000 Minelab_Sovereign_GT Minelab_Safari Minelab_ETrac Whites_Beach_Hunter_ID Fisher_1235_X
Primary Interest:
All Treasure Hunting
Sounds like you need to turn your sensitivity down till your detector is stable.... What setting are you using for in the water? Your always going to get a false when the surf rolls over your coil if your in real shallow water, you learn to recognize that and deal with it...

What beaches are you hunting, maybe we can meet up and do a hunt together and I can help.... I live in Orlando...
 

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Surfview

Surfview

Full Member
Jul 1, 2012
105
38
Marineland
Detector(s) used
Excalibur II
Primary Interest:
Beach & Shallow Water Hunting
I live near Marineland, Matanzas Inlet. I detect from ponte vedra, just south of jacksonville to palm coast and could go most anywhere between here and Daytona or a little more south.

I've been just using pinpoint setting in the water. Anything else gets to many tone changes. I haven't tried other settings. I read somewhere on this forum to just jump in the water, set pinpoint for beginners with this machine. Was that bad advice?
 

Sandman

Gold Member
Aug 6, 2005
13,398
3,992
In Michigan now.
Detector(s) used
Excal 1000, Excal II, Sovereign GT, CZ-20, Tiger Shark, Tejon, GTI 1500, Surfmaster Pulse, CZ6a, DFX, AT PRO, Fisher 1235, Surf PI Pro, 1280-X, many more because I enjoy learning them. New Garrett Ca
Primary Interest:
All Treasure Hunting
You would do lots better to set sens to Auto and don't worry about the tones. If it makes a repeatable tone, scoop it. Iron trash will null and the threshold will come back either higher or lower. Don't sweat this. If it bothers you wave the coil near the scoop to reset it but it will reset on its own. Depending on the amount of surf, it will push the coil around and make it beep. Learn to deal with this minor falsing.
 

FLauthor

Hero Member
Aug 22, 2004
770
203
Minneola, FL
Detector(s) used
Excalibur 800; Fisher F5; White Beachmaster VLF
Primary Interest:
Beach & Shallow Water Hunting
I use minimum sensitivity, zero discrimination, hunt a grid pattern and dig everything. Got to dig trash to get gold. If you hunt ICW beaches and can afford it, get a 2" pontoon dredge fitted with a screen basket, vacuum every signal and check after 45 minutes or when basket is full. Small dredges are only allowed where tides refill holes.
 

jopher

Bronze Member
Jul 20, 2003
1,691
43
Mid Michigan
Detector(s) used
IDX Classic SL-x2....Excalibur1000
Along with the above advise , if you hunt with a constant threshhold tone , you may try backing it off and running in a more quiet mode.
 

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Surfview

Surfview

Full Member
Jul 1, 2012
105
38
Marineland
Detector(s) used
Excalibur II
Primary Interest:
Beach & Shallow Water Hunting
Thanks for all the comments and suggestions. Really appreciate it.
 

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