detecting beaches. dry sand vs wet sand???

[pistol perfect]

where do you think most of the rings and chains aredry sand or the early morning low tide area? I have been hitting the beaches really hard and I am not finding much!!!!!!!!! I have put in about 20 hours in the last month and I have not found anything really nice?? do I need to hit the wet sand or the low tide area?? all of my beach hunting has been done on dry sand!!

 

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[Sandman]

Most of the good targets I have found have been in the wet sand at low tide and into the water itself. You didn't say what detector you were using, but I use the Excal 1000 because it has no trouble with saltwater and black sand. At least on most beaches anyway as it depends on the amount of black sand.

Have you studied the site http://thegoldenolde.com/

You must keep the coil level with the ground during the sweep and overlap by about 50% to cover the ground well. At depth the coil field is only about 2" with a concentric coil. The DD on a Excal is covering lots more area so overlapping isn't as important so you can cover more ground to max your chances or "luck" to get the coil over a great target.

Good Luck,
Sandman

 

[txkickergirl]

Thanks Sandman for that link, there is a lot of great info on that site and I plan to pour over it.

 

[Larsmed]

Hi

If you are only using that Prizm..I would upgrade to a beach or saltwater machine!! Maybe something with PI

Larry

 

[Eu_citzen]

I find that dry sand can hold almost anything, coins, jewelry, toys etc.

While wet sand has lower trash ratio and higher coin and jewelry ratio.

I always wait for low water and then I hunt the freshly exposed dirt, we don't have low/high tides here. (ok we have but the difference is minimal)

 

[Tom_in_CA]

Pistol Perfect, I see you are in So. CA, so I assume you're talking about ocean beaches (as opposed to lake beaches) right?

The wet sand is my preference. The reason is not that there are any more fumble-fingers losses out there, than there is up higher, but rather: on the wet sand you have the chance to find mother-nature's groupings of targets. When sand is eroding out, the heavier items tend to be left in zones (like a giant riffle board, where heavier objects tend to gather/settle). And all the light stuff (foil, tabs, bottle caps, etc...) will be non-existent, since they're taken out to sea, or wherever.

If you're getting lightweight objects, like aluminum, on the wet, then you're there on a soft-sand day. You can tell just by the firmness to-the-step, if sand is going out, or coming in. Soft spongy sand is a bad sign. Look for signs of erosion, like cuts, scallops, low spots, slopes, etc.... You can guess where and when to go, by studying the swell charts and tides. Believe me, after you've been in an area no bigger than your living room, digging targets non-stop for an hour straight, you'll never go back to dry sand hunting again

 

[Eu_citzen]

hard packed Clay and big rocks could also be good sign....Gotta love to find a place where the hard packed clay is no deeper then 1 cm and virgin beach!!! (been there done that)

 

[Tom_in_CA]

Eu-citizen, yup, "been there, done that" too. I've been on beaches that were stripped down to bedrock. The goodies can not sink any further than bedrock, so they're all just waiting there for you, usually in low spots/pockmarks, or trapped in line-formations, etc...

I recall one time, for an hour straight, I just stood there scooping blindly as fast as I could, in one such line/gouge formation in the bedrock. Every scoop, for what seemed like an hour, had multiple coins, sinkers, nails, keys, etc.... And when it the spot started to thin out, I would merely take 2 steps further up or down the ridge, and start all over! Every single wave washing through the depression would bring scads of new targets.

Just sickening to have to go back to wandering the beach for random signals, when you've been in pickens that thick

 

[Eu_citzen]

Yes I know what you mean.

Gotta love when it happens though, quite a rare occasion.