How deep out in the surf?

[antigrav1117]

Ok, I'm a little crazy. But I figured there might be some good finds out past where normal people go. So first I hunted neck deep, then bought a mask with the snorkle on top, put on dive weights and worked water about 6 feet deep. Didn't find much. Now, I've constructed a shallow water breathing device, battery operated, that will deliver a good deal of air down to about 10'. Mounted in a custom PVC float ring (more of a rectangle actually). Have only tested it once, on a brief visit, but my question is this.

Is it worth it?

Has ANYONE found a greater abundance of decent finds in water over 6 feet? I haven't. Plenty of fishing weights though haha. SO- I'm thinking, keep the U/W rig for lakes and ponds, but forget using it in the surf in the gulf of Mexico- which is about always rough- LOL.

I guess I'm finding that people don't go out that far and lose stuff. I just thought that maybe - since it isn't hunted, likely at all.. might be some good finds.

 

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[Jason in Enid]

That really depends on the beach. If it drops off quickly, then people will go out past the 6' level just because they dont want to stand around right at the surf line. If its a long, low slope then people generally wont go WAAAAY out there just for deeper water. You really have to spend time watching the people's activities and see where they congregate. Most people will typically stay where the water is from wast to chest deep. Thats where most losses will occur.

 

[CASPER-2]

https://www.flickr.com/photos/casper-2

look for my article -SNORKEL - SNUBA - HOOKAH - SCUBA ...

 

[CASPER-2]

#1 PRIORITY - BE SAFE

When i started hitting the water - most guys wore waders and hit mostly below their chest to shore - lot would use land machines and either
float their box and use an extension cord - that is what i did - i had a guy make a water proof one - i never wore waders because i had known
of a few guys that had pushed their limits and waders filled up and they drowned - know a bunch that had close calls too. So i would wait and just do it
when waters were warm - some guys would just make a rod extension to keep their box out of the water
So in the 90s - water hunting started getting more popular up here - for me - land spots were getting slim - I hated hunting in the open in 90+
degree weather in parks and schools and cellar hole hunting and other spots in the woods filled with bugs and poison ivy wore thin quick
So i turned to the water in the warm months and did well right off the bat. Then guys hitting the dry sand and wet sands started to see me getting more gold
than they were and slowly the started to first come in with their land machines to knee deep and eventually got water machines and
came out to waist deep - so I started working farther out - next thing you know their were a bunch of guys (more in the water now than land) and my finds started
to decrease - so I started wearing a mask and snorkel and going out farther - Not many others would do this - so i found a some what "virgin" zone again.
hitting chest deep to over my head. Then more guys once again saw me doing good out there and some come out there with me.
One day I was out at a negative low at a spot that goes back in the 1800s - I was out at my limit and was reaching out as far as i could and i got
3 old gold rings and some early silver in one like 50 yrd pass. I thought if im getting stuff still at my limit ...there has to stil be stuff even farther.
I mean... as a kid I remember that we tried to swim out as far as we could and get away with it - most spots back then had no ropes or "limit" buoys.
There were always grown-ups doing laps out in 6-7-8 ft of water and over the yrs i have had older folks come up to me and tell me they lost rings way out.
Then there are the docks and piers that people have dove off of over the years and almost every beach fresh and salt had dive/swim rafts/platforms in deep water.
That is when I bought my first hookah and started getting out to 7ft plus range - and i know a lot of spots I can hit - BUT - up here in New England - waters are
cold 75%+ pf the time - I will cold water hunt to chest deep in the winters - I have a cold water wet suit-gloves and boots and usually I get tired before i get cold.
...but won't cold water dive...So I only will dive when waters are warm - which is in season and most spots won't allow me to do it in season during normal
beach hours - I live close to 2 hrs away from most salt water spots so its tough to do it at sunrise or sunset at those spots - fresh water spots -gates are locked off hours
- water is usually far into the parks and getting a snuba or scuba equipment in would be killer...Sooo that is why you dont see me doing either more than i should.
Its out there though!

 

[CASPER-2]

EXAMPLES OF SOME DEEPER SWIM SPOTS
off piers - off docks = we have some spots where there were piers off old beaches where they would ship people to the beach - long gone
but people could lose all kinds of stuff in these areas - plus plenty of coins from people getting coins out to pay for their ticket
plenty of people dove or jumped in off these same piers- and spots that had old rafts- do some google searching
Im laid up right now and have some time if you need help looking for spots in your area - drop me a line

 

[CASPER-2]

some items found past 6 ft mark - just a few i found to quick post - some from fresh - some from salt
salt were at low tide and out deeper - fresh were out past the buoy lines in over 6 ft of water

 

[LawrencetheMDer]

Gosh, I wonder if any body has ever tried stilts to get to 6-8 ft?
Guess I'd also have to get a longer water scoop; oh and a longer detector!

 

[CASPER-2]

Gosh, I wonder if any body has ever tried stilts to get to 6-8 ft?
Guess I'd also have to get a longer water scoop; oh and a longer detector!

I did it myself but if you can find a partner thats a good swimmer/snorkeler you could try something i call "poling"
I have a small town beach that when you hit 6ft - it drops right off - it slants right down to around 15 ft
before leveling off - there was a raft out like 50 ft from shore here yrs ago - i know many would swim out to
that raft in the 60s and 70s - i know there is gold out there - before i got my first hookah - i had a used PI Pro
the coil cord was pretty long and the head phone cord could stretch pretty far - so i went to Home depot
and found the longest wooden pole -LIKE 8 FT - I detached the box off the rod and duck taped the rod and coil to the pole
and then ducked taped the box to the back of the pole. this gave me around a 10+ ft total length. I walked out to
the edge of the drop off and used it like you would a pool vacuum pushing it down the slant up and down - water was clear
so when i received a hit i would put coil on its side and make a mark in the sand - headphones would keep me attatched
to the rig - so i could dive down and using a hand scoop retrieve the target. the crucifix ring above was found doing this.
It would be easier I would think with a partner - you could hold coil over target and then have them dive down.

 

[slider66]

Casper great write-up and incredible finds.

 

[ctdirtdigger]

https://www.flickr.com/photos/casper-2

look for my article -SNORKEL - SNUBA - HOOKAH - SCUBA ...

CASPER: Is there a way to print that article..........I hate reading lengthy articles on my computer screen !! Could just be me ! BTW, where were all those articles published, what magazine ? TIA

 

[RustyGold]

CASPER: Is there a way to print that article..........I hate reading lengthy articles on my computer screen !! Could just be me ! BTW, where were all those articles published, what magazine ? TIA

Select said article and copy paste it into a text document and print it.

 

[flgliderpilot]

On the flip side, there is far less traffic out there in the deep water.

I used scuba gear last year to search the swim buoy line (about 15ft of water) a few times and found zero, not a single target. I had the same theory about people swimming out and back, but if you look at the time spent in the water 90% of it is at waist deep.

It was a LOT of work hauling dive gear out there, hunting very slowly and hauling it back. Looking at my log, I found more jewelry in the wet sand than anywhere else simply because I could cover ground faster and at THIS beach that's where things ended up.

It's easy to think "it's just right out there" when it isn't.

My experience reminded me that just like gambling, you need to run the numbers and know the odds not just go on a gut feeling.

The results are completely dependent upon location, the history of the location, and the traffic. If there was an old pier, swimming dock, etc, then yes odds are much better because the crowd would be there, rather than at waist deep near shore.

 

[West Jersey Detecting]

The problem here at the Jersey Shore is that the surf is usually pretty rough. It's not easy getting the scoop to the same spot that the signal was detected, and if you don't get the target on the first scoop there's a good chance that the target will move deeper and deeper in the soft sand - until you lose it. I've had that happen more often than not, and when it's a nickel signal you can't help wondering if it was a gold ring that you missed.

 

[flgliderpilot]

View attachment 1719555

That is some rough hunting right there!

 

[dewcon4414]

Depends on beach design. But people often wonder about that....then their beach get renurished....and they find out. I’d say it’s more to do with where the tides allow people to be. Seasonally that can change