Freshwater Treasure Hunting

[Pistol_Pete]

Hello All

I live in Oklahoma and have been a certified diver for 6 years now. I live so far inland that my dive site options are fresh water lakes and ponds. Looking at bass in 5-10 feet of visibility is starting to wear on me. Recently I became interested in underwater metal detecting and treasure hunting. The fact that I dive lakes and swimming holes limits the types of treasure I can go after. Several Oklahoma lakes cover towns and houses; Lake Texoma for example, covers 3 towns and an Indian village. I know of several public swimming holes that have been in use for over 100 years. I have been looking into hookah systems, pontoon boats, dredgers, and metal detectors(Which one? Whites, Garret, or Fisher). If anyone can offer information regarding freshwater hunting techniques and equipment I would very much appreciate it. I would also like to know if there is anyone who has gotten a decent return on their investment (A hookah and decent detector costs around $3000.00).

Thanks, Bob

[wreckdiver1715]

Bob, welcome aboard TreasureNet. I started my diving in Austin Texas (Lake Travis, and Canyon Lake), years ago with a 20' SunTracker party barge. While I did not have a Hookah system at the time, and was diving with BC and tanks, I did realize many years later that a hookah would be the way to go. Ingress and egress from the water was always a problem from my pontoon boat.
As for the detector, I personally use the Minelab Excalibur 1000 for diving off the coast, and I use it on the beach during the winter months. I am very happy with this machine! There are less expensive alternatives, and with some time, users of those machines will chime in. Overall, I have heard very little negative about any of the underwater machines. The minelab machine is a little cumberson weight wise out of the water and working the beach. However, you get used to it after a while.

Tom

[timeline]

Hi Bob

I have been working some lakes in Northern Indiana for about 5 years with the Fishers pulse 8x. My time is limited to weekends and in the summer. I have been scuba diving some of these lakes 31 years but have only had the metal detector for 5. There was a couple of guys from the 60's who did the swimming areas up north but they were limited to how far they could reach with their arms. They did it every weekend and got alot but compared to the time spent was it a good return? Maybe not. I have decided if I am to get anywere, I'm going have to look for the relics and do a lot more diving in the off seasons. These curious boats and wave runners can be a problem some times in these lake. I have been building a rov (been almost 2 years since I started). It's almost complete. It will be my first but there will be a second and better. This one uses bigle pumps and goes about 100 feet. I'm going to start looking in the deep for big thing and dive down to them. I am hoping this will increase my return but I will also stick to the swimming areas. I guess it all depends on what was lost doesn't it. Some rare coin could be worth alot but it has to be there and you have to find it. I hoping for a big safe that someone couldn't get open so they dump it but then how would they have got it out in the lake in the first place. It would sink the boat. People do all kind of weird things, set their trash on the ice and when the lake melts it falls in, put a car on the ice and make bets what day it will fall in. I know these things don't happen know but they use to. I look at it this way, some of those lakes have been here since the being and what was put in them stay in them like a jar until someone come along and take it out. Fresh water can be very kind to thing lost for many years.

David

[ScubaFinder]

Bob, I've been doing exactly what you are talking about for a few years now, and while I wouldn't say I have had a huge ROI, I have made some nice finds and it beats the heck out of digging 9" holes in the park for dimes. I alsi use a JW Fisher's Pulse 8X, but I've seen the Garrett, AquaPulse, Whites, and Minelab in action, and all are good detectors. Like WD said, you'll rarely hear a negative word about any of the brand name underwater detectors.

I've learned a few things while treasure hunting in lakes. Underwater ghost towns are cool as heck, and a very unique dive, but I've rarely pulled any "treasure" out of them. I have gotten some relics that sold as antiques, but my experience has been that the town folks cleared everything out before the lake was built. I've dived in Texhoma and Possum Kingdom ghost towns.

Bridges are excellent, no other way to say it...1940's hub caps, pistols, fishing gear (a full tackle box once) and rings are found regularly. Another great place to hunt are old crossings. There is a civil war camp and crossing site right here in downtown Wichita Falls. The camp site has been hunted to death, but we still find stuff there, the crossing however is still great. I know that old lanterns and Spanish silver dollars have been found at Rock Crossing not far from you on the Red River.

Latetly I've gotten into looking for plane crashes in fresh water too. An old military aircraft well preserved can be a great find. Like some have said, there are hundreds of tales of safes being dumped, bandits throwing loot into a lake or river while running from the law, etc. I think freshwater sites are one of the least touched frontiers of treasure hunting. Most guys with the right skills and gear are working on Galleons in the ocean, leaving the lakes untouched for us "coastally challenged" types.

I'll go diving / hunting with you anytime if you need a partner/buddy. If you have a boat, we can run my side scan sonar around Texhoma and see what we can find.

Jason

[Pistol_Pete]

Jason

Thanks for all of the info, I am leaning towards the Fisher M-scope 1280X. My wife is a diver and when I save a little more money I may buy a higher end model and give her the Aquanaut. Jason, I am very interested in what you found in the Texoma ghost town. What was the visibility like, did you need a dry suit, how deep was the town? I would like to go diving with you as soon as it warms up and learn some of your methods. I have a fishing boat and I am trying to find a 20 foot pontoon boat for more room. My wife likes to dive but she is afraid of the supposed "VW size catfish" in Texoma. What does a side scan sonar do for finding treasure, I have seen the new fishing sonars at Bass Pro and the detail is amazing. Has anyone ever tried metal detecting underneath marinas, around those million dollar boats. What do you do when you make a find to keep the site from turning into a muddy disaster, once you start digging.

[spez401]

Pete...

as for the first part... i'm partial to the minelab excalibur. Mine worked great in and out of the water. A little cumbersome out of the water, but there are a some after-market shafts that really alleviate that problem.

I've been diving since i was 15 (32 now) and got my first underwater detector when i was in law school in 1996. My underwater finds alone paid for my DFX and my excalibur. I've never used a hookah system, but that is more because of the time i can actually spend detecting in the water. I live in RI and its too cold to dive here from november till april (at least). Top that off with 2 kids, 2 dogs, and WAAAAY too many other hobbies... well.. you get the picture.

I have hit swimming holes, under bridges in rivers, and I dove the marina in Newport, RI under those expensive yachts you were talking about. I had great luck in the swimming holes and especially the bridges where people tend to jump off of in the summer. Lots of rings and watches from the combination of cold water and impact. In the marina, i discovered the utmost hatred of pulltabs and beercans. I found more junk than it was worth (in my opinion). The only time i found anything good in a marina was when a friend of mine asked me to llok for his wifes diamond bracelet. I knew exactly where it went in, and still ahd a hard time finding it.

Technique... there's the tough one. At bridges and river swimming holes, it usually isn't too much of a problem because of the current... but that makes it tough to stay still (as i'm sure you already know). In still water, I have a small scoop that I use. Take as little dirt/bottom as possible, and try to sift it behind you, or off to the side (away from where you're going) Sometimes i forgo the scoop completely and just fan the bottom with my hand or digging tool... but it creates a vis problem.

hope this helps
steve

[ScubaFinder]

All good questions Bob, and as Grubby said, we all have our favorite equipment, and it was bought based on our needs. When we worked the Jupiter Inlet site, there were 5 different detectors there, and many discussions about which was best...the truth is, none of them missed a target. Some were lighter, some were cheaper, some looked cooler, but in the end they all did their job. I started with a $129 Trident from Ebay, found the pistol and my uncles watch with it. It had NO discrimination, so I dug a lot of trash with it too. It also doesn't do salt water (very few of the VLF's do) and the Pulse Inductions will get a little deeper depending on coil size.

As for visibility, I just pretty much assume it will be close to zero on every lake dive, so stirring up the mud isn't much of an issue. The ghost town we dove on was in the southwest corner of Texhoma, can't recall the name but it will come to me. It was at about 45 feet, water temp in August 3 years ago was 64...a little nippy for my 3 mil wetsuit. I've been down and looked at some stuff in Elmer Thomas at 85 feet, and it was pitch black and 46 degrees. We had lights with us, and the object we saw on the SSS was an old dirt bike, so it was a bust.

We didn't find anything worthwhile with the metal detectors in the ghost town either. 2 horse shoes, an old hammer, and a rusty old tin. A guy went back and got some saloon style doors, but they were in pretty bad shape. We brought up a 7 foot metal street lamp and sold it to a Dallas antique store for $300. It had fallen over, and we were able to raise it with just two divers and our BCD's.

You'd be amazed at what you can see with the new Humminbird side scans, we had heard that there was some old artillery from Fort Sill in Elmer Thomas but all we found was the motorcycle. I haven't used it as much as I'd like, but it plainly shows anything abnormal on the bottom, so we jump in and check it out. I have located the old fire and rescue boat owned by our volunteer fire dept. and recovered a plaque and some gear from it for them. I found an old john boat and brought it to shore, it was fine and had just been swamped, but the motor was toast.

In Possum Kingdom, I've seen some of the catfish you speak of, maybe not VW sized, but over 5 feet for sure. They just layed on the bottom, and swam off if we got too close to them. I go do the "clean up dive" every year at Hell's Gate, and we always find interesting things intermingled with the cans and bottles from the partys. Last year I found 2 pairs of binoculars, a Willie Nelson CD, 12 pairs of sun glasses, an unopened Bud Light, a boat propeller, and a womans bikini top...I'd love to know the story on that one!

Under the Ohio street bridge over the Wichita River I found an old .22 revolver with carved ivory grip that cleaned up pretty nicely, my uncle has it in his gun collection. The same uncle dumped a tackle box off of a dock with his Rolex in it...it was a 25th anniversary gift from my aunt so I went down and recovered that for him. Much like Steve mentioned, even though we knew right where it fell over, I had a hard time finding the watch...I landed on top of the tackle box, but the watch was 10 feet away under the mud.

It's always interesting, but in probably 50 dives I bet I haven't brought up $1,000 worth of stuff. I found a silver ring about 20 feet out from the public beach area at Lake Arrowhead, quite a bit of clad around the area swimming holes and that sort of thing. I have some locations I really want to hit next year, and I hear there are some damn nice boats on the bottom of Texhoma. I know of one story where a 36 foot cuddy cabin live aboard went down because of a mechanical problem that should be in fine shape. I'd love to go bring something like that up, buy it from the insurance company, and restore it for sale. Seems like that sort of thing doesn't get done around these parts, so we'd have our pick of targets if I ever try to follow that dream. Truth is I'm looking to move out to Florida next summer if I can get all my ducks in a row, but you never know.

Stay in touch, I'll be itching to get wet as soon as the water temps hit 70.

Jason

[ScubaFinder]

I guess I shouldn't gripe about our 62 degree water should I...yours was 56 last time I was there...in August. Your Christmas present will go out Monday, thanks a bunch!

Jason

[Pistol_Pete]

I am starting to discover that finding the right metal detector is going to be very difficult. It seems no one has anything bad to say about any of the underwater models but everyone uses something different. If anyone can direct me in the right direction it would help a great deal. I would like to find a midrange model around $500.00-700.00, that can be used effectively on land as well as in the water(most of the dive sites are 30 feet or less and all freshwater)

Do any of you freshwater guys own a drysuit, and if so has it been worth the high price? I know they are a necessity in the winter but I figure the loot will wait for me until it warms up. However as anyone who has to gone deep in a lake knows air temp is meaningless at 80 feet. I have yet to find a wet suit that lets me withstand the extreme cold so I never go deep in lakes, am I missing out?

Jason glad to hear your trying to escape the in-lands, I too feel the calling of the sea. I think that certain people are meant for the ocean, some of us just happen to be born and raised inland. We are trying to make or way to Oahu next year if I can find a teaching job. Fresh hand caught lobster every night, beautiful weather, 120 wonderful feet of visibility, and thousands of tourists losing there jewelery at the beach.

[Salvor6]

Hey Pete, I used to dive the TVA lakes in Tennessee in winter. They would draw down the water for flood control and what was once a 150' dive was now a 100' dive. The thermocline was a killer where you could be at 30' and dip your hand down to 32' and feel a 5 degree difference! The lakes in TN never freeze in winter but it gets down to 40. I bought one of the first Offshore brand dry suits in 1985 and it was the greatest thing since sliced bread. Kept me warm as toast in 40 deg. water when it was snowing and 30 deg outside! I think the denier nylon suits are better than the neoprene ones because you can wear different undergarments depending on the water temp. The cave divers of N. FL use dry suits in 70 deg water with minimal undergarments (like long pants and a jacket) and you can use the same suit in 35 deg water with the full jump suit undergarment.