First time Beach Detecting, Asking for a little help please.

[Fishingfromakayak]

Thanks for reading it. This summer I plan on heading to the beach for the first time metal detecting. I currently have a AT Pro. My question is how do I determine or find out which beaches will allow me to metal detect ? I plan on going early and trying to avoid people. Im not asking for your secret spots or anything like that, just generic help please...thank you for Any Help. I can go in Mass and CT.

 

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[SouthFLdigger]

Go here

MDHTALK - Map: Metal Detecting State Laws & Regulations

Click on your state and read the regulations, enjoy !

 

[Tom_in_CA]

...My question is how do I determine or find out which beaches will allow me to metal detect ?.....

You're asking the wrong question. The question is not "which beaches allow detecting?", but rather: "Which beaches DIS-allow detecting?"

Because you need-not have specific allowance to detect a public spot. I mean, it's not as if you're going to have a rule or a sign that says "Metal detecting allowed here" . On the contrary, if not dis-allowed or prohibited, then presto: It's not dis-allowed or prohibited

As for what southFLdigger shows, just be aware, that's only for state parks. Well, they have a few cities on there, but not much. The rest concerns itself with mostly state and fed. Not other forms of beaches, like city, county, federal blm & nfs, etc.... A person can come away from reading that site (with all it's dire-sounding info), and come away thinking EVERYTHING is off-limits (which is obviously not so)..

And also a lot of what's on sites like, there is often a distinction (even if not explicitly spelled out) that beaches and land are held to a different standard.

 

[Fishingfromakayak]

SouthFlDigger,Skippy and Tom thanks for the great advice/help. Im gettin ready

 

[CASPER-2]

public beaches are public beaches - unless its on a historical site - national sea shore on the Cape - a no no
I usually get in on most at sunrise or just before sunset - no probs usually before Memorial day or after Labor day
here are some articles ive written that may be of some help to you -others may inspire
https://www.flickr.com/photos/casper-2/

 

[CASPER-2]

old vid on some finds from Ct. bchs

 

[Waltorian]

So cool. Is it necessary to be out in the water? Or can you have good luck on the beach ?

 

[CASPER-2]

So cool. Is it necessary to be out in the water? Or can you have good luck on the beach ?

you will always find more jewelry in the water - I might hunt dry sand once a year to play around when I cant get in the water and wet sand for the same reason
about 98% of beach finds in this album are from water - and this is not all of it
https://www.flickr.com/photos/casper-1/

 

[CASPER-2]

So cool. Is it necessary to be out in the water? Or can you have good luck on the beach ?

you go to a spot like south beach in Miami - Virginia bch - myrtle bch - you can see like 10-20 guys huntin the dry in the summer
you will see little less hitting the wet sand at low tide - and less in the water usually - so you increase your chances as you enter the water
then you got guys that hit from ankles to waist - then guys that hit waist to chest - I will hit usually from waist to my limits with mask and snorkel
which is the road less traveled

 

[Waltorian]

Oh I see, makes sense now. So Iam close to the luxurious Galveston island and hope to do some detecting there soon. Thanks for the info.

 

[Waltorian]

Oh and very cool pics

 

[CASPER-2]

Oh I see, makes sense now. So Iam close to the luxurious Galveston island and hope to do some detecting there soon. Thanks for the info.

SOMETIMES ITS JUST BEING AT THE RIGHT PLACE AT THE RIGHT TIME - YOU CAN GO TO A SPOT THAT SEES 1000S OF PEOPLE A DAY - MOST WOULD SAY ODDS ARE GOOD YOU WILL KILL IT - BUT IF NO ONE LOSES ANYTHING THAT DAY - THEN YOU AINT GONNA FIND ANYTHING THAT DAY - THEN YOU GO TO A SMALL BEACH WITH 50 PEOPLE AND FIND A BUNCH OF STUFF - ITS LUCK A LOT OF TIMES

 

[Sir Gala Clad]

Keep it simple - Start of with dry sand.
Focus on where people enter and exit the beach.
Look for where people like to lay (towel line) and play (volley ball court).
you are looking for fresh drops.

Use minimum discrimination, to knock out obvious junk.
Guess what the target is before digging.

Develop necessary skill to retrieve target with stand up sand scoop (if you have one) blind folded.
If you don't have one, no sweat - squatting down/bending over is good exercise.

As almost any VLF metal detector will work well on dry sand, you should not experience any problems other than there
being too much trash - masking your target(s)

Once you have mastered the above move down to the wet sand on Salt water beach and do a lazy W / S pattern from the waters edge to the upper wet sand. You are trying to locate a coin line, Upon detecting an old lead sinker, corroded quarter, slow down and grid as you
may of found a target iine. Slowly spiral out or do a grid search pattern to find like targets - hopefull gold ring(S)

Shallow water hunting with AT Pro is more iffy as it is an all terrain metal detector rather than a true water detector.
(multi frequency/ PI metal detectors) work better in this zone.
On some beaches the ATPRO will work well, - may have to reduce sensitivity as noisy
On others not. This is what I have been told and seen on videos - never used an AT PRO.

Don't forget brimmed had, poloroid sun glasses, SPF 50 sun block, lip balm if your are detecting in the heat of the day.
The beach is a hostil place for those who are not prepared.

Above all: Enjoy yourself and have a great hunt.

Thanks for reading it. This summer I plan on heading to the beach for the first time metal detecting. I currently have a AT Pro. My question is how do I determine or find out which beaches will allow me to metal detect ? I plan on going early and trying to avoid people. Im not asking for your secret spots or anything like that, just generic help please...thank you for Any Help. I can go in Mass and CT.

 

[CASPER-2]

He hopefully wont have much prob with trash - one thing most of us New Englanders do is clean out the trash
you follow me and you usually wont find as much as a bobby pin for trash - we have a fair amount of PI users up here
and because people like me hunt in all metal and try and clean it all out - there is no need to crank your discrim.- though a lot still do
you usually will only get fresh junk drops from the day

Keep it simple - Start of with dry sand.
Focus on where people enter and exit the beach.
Look for where people like to lay (towel line) and play (volley ball court).
you are looking for fresh drops.

Use minimum discrimination, to knock out obvious junk.
Guess what the target is before digging.

Develop necessary skill to retrieve target with stand up sand scoop (if you have one) blind folded.
If you don't have one, no sweat - squatting down/bending over is good exercise.

As almost any VLF metal detector will work well on dry sand, you should not experience any problems other than there
being too much trash - masking your target(s)

Once you have mastered the above move down to the wet sand on Salt water beach and do a lazy W / S pattern from the waters edge to the upper wet sand. You are trying to locate a coin line, Upon detecting an old lead sinker, corroded quarter, slow down and grid as you
may of found a target iine. Slowly spiral out or do a grid search pattern to find like targets - hopefull gold ring(S)

Shallow water hunting with AT Pro is more iffy as it is an all terrain metal detector rather than a true water detector.
(multi frequency/ PI metal detectors) work better in this zone.
On some beaches the ATPRO will work well, - may have to reduce sensitivity as noisy
On others not. This is what I have been told and seen on videos - never used an AT PRO.

Don't forget brimmed had, poloroid sun glasses, SPF 50 sun block, lip balm if your are detecting in the heat of the day.
The beach is a hostil place for those who are not prepared.

Above all: Enjoy yourself and have a great hunt.

 

[Jamie Garrison]

No problems whatsoever...

I picked up more numbers than I did Pull tabs when I went to St. Augustine Beach....

 

[Channon]

In Massachusetts you can detect on inland and coastal beaches that are overseen by the Mass Department of Conservation and Recreation. Some of them might try to kick you out but if you quote their regulations they just say they didn't know that and leave you alone

 

[slikriktn1]

If you really want to know for sure about metal detecting laws or lack of laws,do what I did..we are going to Miramar beach in July which is in Walton County..I looked up the County Supervisor and the Parks and Recreation Supervisor and emailed them on Detecting beaches in their county..I received an email back within a couple hours basically saying the county had no specific laws or rules on detecting on their beaches and to have fun and enjoy my stay.

 

[SouthFLdigger]

Keep it simple - Start of with dry sand.
Focus on where people enter and exit the beach.
Look for where people like to lay (towel line) and play (volley ball court).
you are looking for fresh drops.

Use minimum discrimination, to knock out obvious junk.
Guess what the target is before digging.

Develop necessary skill to retrieve target with stand up sand scoop (if you have one) blind folded.
If you don't have one, no sweat - squatting down/bending over is good exercise.

As almost any VLF metal detector will work well on dry sand, you should not experience any problems other than there
being too much trash - masking your target(s)

Once you have mastered the above move down to the wet sand on Salt water beach and do a lazy W / S pattern from the waters edge to the upper wet sand. You are trying to locate a coin line, Upon detecting an old lead sinker, corroded quarter, slow down and grid as you
may of found a target iine. Slowly spiral out or do a grid search pattern to find like targets - hopefull gold ring(S)

Shallow water hunting with AT Pro is more iffy as it is an all terrain metal detector rather than a true water detector.
(multi frequency/ PI metal detectors) work better in this zone.
On some beaches the ATPRO will work well, - may have to reduce sensitivity as noisy
On others not. This is what I have been told and seen on videos - never used an AT PRO.

Don't forget brimmed had, poloroid sun glasses, SPF 50 sun block, lip balm if your are detecting in the heat of the day.
The beach is a hostil place for those who are not prepared.

Above all: Enjoy yourself and have a great hunt.

"Once you have mastered the above move down to the wet sand on Salt water beach and do a lazy W / S pattern from the waters edge to the upper wet sand. You are trying to locate a coin line, Upon detecting an old lead sinker, corroded quarter, slow down and grid as you
may of found a target iine. Slowly spiral out or do a grid search pattern to find like targets - hopefull gold ring(S)"

Great advice that's worked for me very well !

 

[Phantasman]

Thanks for reading it. This summer I plan on heading to the beach for the first time metal detecting. I currently have a AT Pro. My question is how do I determine or find out which beaches will allow me to metal detect ? I plan on going early and trying to avoid people. Im not asking for your secret spots or anything like that, just generic help please...thank you for Any Help. I can go in Mass and CT.

Make sure you have a good sand scoop. My 2 cents.

 

[Waltorian]

Sweet!