A Little Beach Primer For Those Still Stuggling

[bigscoop]

Hey all, been a while since I've posted in the beach and shallow water forum. However, I've been doing some reminiscing in recent weeks and I really miss the beach so I put together a little video that might help those hunters who are still struggling with finding consistent success on those Florida coastal beaches. Hope it helps. (Man do I miss the beach!) Hope all is well with everyone.

 

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[claire]

Thank you Bigscoop! Good advice. I always look for the gravelly, hard packed sand. I am always surprised at the treasure that you can find in the winter time. You won't catch me in the water though! Hope you get back to the beach soon. Sounds like you miss it

 

[bigscoop]

I discovered that the winter currents were always changing and reshaping the bottom, a single changing of the tides stripping away more sand and exposing new areas to be hunted. On several occasions I'd simply return to the same locations that I hunted the day before only to find them wider and deeper, making even more new trinkets accessible. But on the east coast of Florida, at least where I was at, this can be dangerous work, the currents can be very strong, deep holes can pop up anywhere, and rip currents always have to be looked for and avoided. But on those days when the winter currents became fairly flat, which was rare, the hunting could be fantastic, at least until the tide started rolling back in.

 

[hamiddetecting]

Hi my friend, hope you see you so soon in beach, good luck

 

[bigscoop]

Hi my friend, hope you see you so soon in beach, good luck

Hey buddy, long time. Good to hear from you again. Not back on the beach yet but I can sure smell it coming.

 

[SWFLA]

Great video and info

 

[bigscoop]

Great video and info

I plan to do some more metal detecting videos but not exactly the season for it up here right now. However, I'm thinking about doing one on my preferred beach coil selections detailing when and where and why and how I used them. I just have to dig them out of the closet first.

 

[Tenderfoot]

Great tips. Especially for newbies like me. Thanks for taking the time to share.

 

[howie#1]

Great job good video for the Florida folks seems like there no shortage of hunters this winter season.

 

[bigscoop]

Great job good video for the Florida folks seems like there no shortage of hunters this winter season.

The hobby of metal detecting has grown by leaps and bounds in the last 15-20 years, technology has also made metal detectors more user friendly so I expect we'll only continue to see an increase in the number of hunters on the beaches. Just look at the growth of this website, and others, in the last 15-20 years. I have a good friend, an author with several books to his credit, his best selling book over the past few years being his metal detecting book/books and they are selling, "very well." All the more reason why the serious hunter really needs to understand the elements and the conditions he's hunting in. I'd say 80-90% of the good targets (jewelry) recovered are recent drops that are fairly easy for anyone to access, the other 20% being those targets that aren't as easy to access and that aren't for everyone. Those guys who are consistently recovering gold from the beaches know how to routinely access this other 20%.

 

[ChampFerguson/TN]

fwiw, I am a a retired geologist and what bigscoop describes is exactly what we were taught in sedimentology class about sand movement. Wish I had paid more attention in class tho......

Most Excellent vid, bigscoop. Looking forward to more.

 

[Terry Soloman]

Well done, no nonsense, and solid info. Two Thumbs Up!

 

[updownup]

Thanks bigscoop for the advice and much appreciated.

 

[bigscoop]

The beach is actually an amazing creature in it's own right once someone has the time to really study it. It is always moving and taking on change, the outer bars playing a big role in how these changes are influenced. The other factor is the shear volume of water being delivered to the beach and the direction of that flow. During periods of high volume various spots in these outer bars can be breached, the heavy volumes of returning beach water being sucked towards these breaches so it can return to the open sea. So it's a lot like a series of high mountain streams that eventually continue converge to form one larger flow. What the hunter needs to locate are these individual streams of returning water because it is here that these individual flows will cut into the bottom and remove those layers of softer sand as they carve their way back to the sea. So when you study the water think in terms of all those little mountain streams, with many of these even getting their start on the wet sand. But use caution as it also these smaller flows that can create strong and dangerous rip currents. The down side, however, these flows are far less common during the summer season unless you have an offshore storm to influence the currents. The upside, however, is that these flows are very common and much easier to locate in the winter.

Remember that the beach is actually a series of pot-holes, much like craters on the moon, with many of these pot-holes simply being filled with a seemingly bottomless pit of soft sand. I've seen 5-6 feet of sand removed from these areas with the single changing of a tide and I could still bury my leg to the knee in them with little effort. Obviously these places aren't going support dense metals like gold and silver. On the other hand, when you find the right locations you're going to start encountering heavier items like lead fishing weights, steel nuts and bolts, and this sort of thing. These areas are where that other 20% of the finds are located at, sometimes it takes the removing of several feet of sand and sometimes only a foot or so. Just depends on how much soft sand or overburden you begin with, how deep the shell pack is, and where on the beach this action is taking place.

 

[bigscoop]

One other thing worth adding.....and this is just my personal experience hunting these detailed flows....don't expect a lot of targets, and there's sound reason for this. You have to remember that these cutting flows and heavier water volumes are going to sweep away most of the lighter targets in their path so generally speaking only the heavier and more dense items are going to remain. We often hear stories of huge amounts of gold and silver being found after several feet of sand has been removed from the beach, and while it is true that this does happen, these events are during those rare occasions when the beach has experienced a massive assault from the ocean. So keep in mind that we are operating on a much smaller seasonal scale and not during a massive removal of sand that might be experienced during, say, a hurricane or the like. So even when hunting these detailed flows every inch of the bottom still has to be covered in that same methodical and time consuming fashion. Those highly touted heydays where gold and silver seems to be everywhere are a the very rare occasion.

 

[can]

thanks for the instruction.

 

[Peyton Manning]

I'm going to see what I can apply of that next month on my vacation

next video, give me a shout out

 

[Xraywolf]

One thing I find most attractive hunting water vs land is precisely the lack of targets.
A bit more relaxing, and when you do get a signal it tends chime out like a bell and really gets your attention. I have a habit if singing while detecting in water, a song will come to mind, say Light My Fire, and I'll keep singing it over and over, don't know why.
I kinda go into a daze, but when that target sings out in my ears I snap right to it, and often it is a ring. It is exiting and even exhilarating tracking it down, sometimes you snag it on the 1st scoop, others I have spent 20 minutes at, some are never recovered though the signal is good. I'd say 90% of targets I get within 3 scoops.
Obviously, there will be a fair share of trash/clad in the water, but no where near the proportion on land, and for an obvious reason - People simply don't take out into the water the things they do on land nearly as much, most often because they are in swimming suits and don't have pockets, and the only ones who take out beer/pop out in the water [and hence tabs] are the ones who float around and drink, not a very large % of swimmers.

There are exceptions of course, notable and sometimes notorious water hunter ScubaDetector took me to a spot on Anchor Bay here in MI late last summer only accessible by boat, right off of Selfridge ANGB. He told me in advance that it was littered by spent shell casings used in air to ground practice back in the day , and he was right. Talk about ringing like a bell, every one of them sounded like a 50g gold ring. It is also a known gathering spot for boat partiers and he had found gold there.
didn't take me long to get hugely frustrated with the plethora of trash, plus the bottom was not sand but rather pure stinky gray muck that resisted every effort to sift with a scoop - No singing at that spot ! I brought along a floating sand sifter and I had to mash the muck into the sifter like a cheese grater, not enjoyable so we moved on to another location after a couple hours.

But in general, most water detecting will be nothing like this and is enjoyable and relaxing.

 

[Doc Arey]

I thank you for taking the time to wright this it has helped a simple man understand...Many thanks!

 

[bigscoop]

I'm going to see what I can apply of that next month on my vacation

next video, give me a shout out

The beach is a fickle creature. You might ask the folks down there what's happening to the beach this winter? Sometimes it doesn't see too much change.