Silted in sites..What are our options??

[Prairie Prowler]

Sure other members have had this happen..I have found several water sites that are know old beaches.. problem is anywhere from 1-3 ft of sludgy SILT Ugggh!! what the heck can you do? remove silt slowly sweeping w/a shovel ? tough situation..Any advice appreciated H-Hing all.

 

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[Sandman]

Besides going to the expense of using a suction dredge, but the best, is to dig with a Garrett gold classifier pan. Just push the pan into the silt and shake. But the dredge is the fastest and best. No detector needed and will clean it down to hard pan.

 

[Prairie Prowler]

Thanks for the comment ..I was really suprised to find one of the sites I hunted heavy in the mid 90s was almost not huntable..

 

[Sandman]

There is a dive site in a near by lake where there used to be a diving raft past the drop-off. It was in 35 Ft. of water on a silty slope where the silt had to be at least 3 foot thick. I kneeled on up slope and pushed plastic classifier pan into muck and pushed crud through the mesh repeatedly till I was scraping clay, the deepest gold would sink. No metal detector was needed. I had to tether the pan to me as it would float to the surface. It took a long time to clean that bottom of trash, jewelry and silver coins as I had to use a hookah and chase boaters away as they thought the funny lawn mower on a tube was free for the taking. But this was more like work and not the fun I was used to having digging a goodie up one by one.

 

[CASPER-2]

There is a dive site in a near by lake where there used to be a diving raft past the drop-off. It was in 35 Ft. of water on a silty slope where the silt had to be at least 3 foot thick. I kneeled on up slope and pushed plastic classifier pan into muck and pushed crud through the mesh repeatedly till I was scraping clay, the deepest gold would sink. No metal detector was needed. I had to tether the pan to me as it would float to the surface. It took a long time to clean that bottom of trash, jewelry and silver coins as I had to use a hookah and chase boaters away as they thought the funny lawn mower on a tube was free for the taking. But this was more like work and not the fun I was used to having digging a goodie up one by one.

always wondered about setting up second hose with high pressure air hose with trigger nozzle like used in garages and blow out areas then hunt - or keep eyes open for targets
wondered also if you could float a strong leaf blower and connect pool hose to it and do the same

 

[cudamark]

Unless you had a good current, visibility would be a problem.

 

[Prairie Prowler]

Knowing the site was used heavily fuels your ambition to hunt it despite conditions..I am a freshwater wading hunter will have to look into diving in the future...some of the crud at this site can be moved w/fanning & then searching..just takes alot of the fun out of the hunt..but that changes when you pull up a nice find..

 

[OBN]

Jet ski ...not out of place. Normally seen on the beach so not to draw attention as much, Less Noise.......and you can take it shallow. Can remove areas of sanded and silt/muck... Working on some type of down draft setup for the rear using a pier ladder which folds up. I have places that are so silted in that you sink several inch's up to 7 or 8. And I have places I hunt that there are cuts that are slanted parallel to the beach. At the deepest part of the cut your hitting old coins, and sometimes gold.. as your walking the cut it starts to get shallow, the shallower it gets the lesser the targets until there are none. Extending areas like this could pay off I think if you could continue the cut further.. but like Casper said... you will have to check what you blew out also....

 

[streetshark1966]

Jet ski ...not out of place. Normally seen on the beach so not to draw attention as much, Less Noise.......and you can take it shallow. Can remove areas of sanded and silt/muck... Working on some type of down draft setup for the rear using a pier ladder which folds up. I have places that are so silted in that you sink several inch's up to 7 or 8. And I have places I hunt that there are cuts that are slanted parallel to the beach. At the deepest part of the cut your hitting old coins, and sometimes gold.. as your walking the cut it starts to get shallow, the shallower it gets the lesser the targets until there are none. Extending areas like this could pay off I think if you could continue the cut further.. but like Casper said... you will have to check what you blew out also....

I have seen a dredge set up that way, hooked to jet exhaust

 

[CASPER-2]

Jet ski ...not out of place. Normally seen on the beach so not to draw attention as much, Less Noise.......and you can take it shallow. Can remove areas of sanded and silt/muck... Working on some type of down draft setup for the rear using a pier ladder which folds up. I have places that are so silted in that you sink several inch's up to 7 or 8. And I have places I hunt that there are cuts that are slanted parallel to the beach. At the deepest part of the cut your hitting old coins, and sometimes gold.. as your walking the cut it starts to get shallow, the shallower it gets the lesser the targets until there are none. Extending areas like this could pay off I think if you could continue the cut further.. but like Casper said... you will have to check what you blew out also....

I don't own a boat - but always wondered if you could make a "mailbox" like the bigboys use to blow out areas in the ocean for wrecks
using a smaller 10 - 25hp motor and as long as you didn't go nuts
or pic up one of these - they make a few inexpensive models and you might even find a cheap one on eabay
3 Really Affordable Underwater Scooters from Sea Doo

 

[Fletch88]

I am going to try one of these scooters or rigging up a blower on my 90hp etec. I have a couple of freshwater spots with 2-3 feet of muck. I have tried fanning and finning but usually visibility goes to absolute zero.

 

[ARC]

always wondered about setting up second hose with high pressure air hose with trigger nozzle like used in garages and blow out areas then hunt - or keep eyes open for targets
wondered also if you could float a strong leaf blower and connect pool hose to it and do the same

Air does not work to "blow"...
it can be used to make a "rise" and lift...
but must move "up" being controlled and away from .
When using air in water... The air rising is the motor moving the water...
causing the water to move things.
Thus... the air can be used for an "air lift"... creating a vacuum cleaner.

Water is used to Blow... and to "clear"... even when using "air"... water is the "mover.

 

[CASPER-2]

 

[CASPER-2]

Air does not work to "blow"...
it can be used to make a "rise" and lift...
but must move "up" being controlled and away from .
When using air in water... The air rising is the motor moving the water...
causing the water to move things.
Thus... the air can be used for an "air lift"... creating a vacuum cleaner.

Water is used to Blow... and to "clear"... even when using "air"... water is the "mover.

with high pressure hose hooked to a hookah - air is blowing the water and the silt - with some sort leaf blowing system would hope to use the same as
with a mailbox system and blow the water down onto the area to clear

 

[ARC]

Heh,,, Mmmm k.
Post your video of that

 

[ARC]

PS> Mailboxes use NO air.