Hello! This past Sunday I finally got the change to go to Miami Beach for my first ever beach/actual hunt. I started hunting in dry sand for about 3 hours (which FLEW by) and was getting lots of targets. Since I don't know all the sounds yet I would dig them up, slowing learning them (Bottle caps are easy to tell now!). When I noticed that 3 hours had passed I walked back to my car to put more time in the meter. Headed back out and decided to try my luck hunting in surf. At first I tried going about waist deep and immediately noticed that it was really hard to swing, really hard, and using my sand scoop to try and recover the target was an even greater task with all the waves throwing me off balance when trying to sink it in. I only ever got 2 targets while waist deep, a really heavy fishing weight and the bottom piece of a can (Dangerous!). After a while I decided to try my luck closer to the shore about knee deep or less and I at least started to get a lot more targets but was still having a little bit of difficult recovering it, mainly it would take me a long time to get it. So the purpose of this thread is to ask: Do you have any advice for a newbie in these situations? What location should I be looking for when hunting in the surf/dry sand? I have an Excalibur II and I'm using the RTG PRO 5" scoop.
Thank you in advance!
Observe the beach, look to see where people gather the most. Most beaches have "zones" where people spend time.
When I hunt Miami I'm in the water, that is where most of the nice finds are at, I will hunt the wet sand since it was under water on the last tide, but in the waster us where I spend most of my time.
Be sure your not fighting the current when swinging your coil, there us an ebb and flow to the water, swing with it, not against it. As I am swinging coil I may take several steps towards shore, then several steps toward the ocean to stay with the ebb and flow,_ it all depends on sea conditions.
Your scoop is too small, you need to get a good waster scoop there is a big difference. A sand scoop is made for dry sand, water scoop is made for digging in the water and wet sand, the scoop is wider and deeper and allows you to dig deeper and faster than a sand scoop allowing you to recover targets quicker before the next wave hits you knocking you off your target. For water hunting next to the detector a good water scoop is your most valuable tool.. They are not cheep, the good ones run $175-$225 but they are worth every penny you pay. You can also always get your money back if you decide to sell them. You can sell a $200 used scoop for a $150 plus shipping all day long, even after years if use....
I have 3 scoops, smallest is 8 inches wide largest is 10" wide..
A few Stealth scoops are on sale right now as the original 8" is being discontinued.
http://www.stealthscoop.com/bargainstore.html. (Price is without the handle)
RTG also makes one called Beach Brute II, it is 10" wide, it us made exclusively for Kellyco and is one of the scoops I own, only mod I did to it was add a stainless steel lip to keep rocks drop damaging the original lip.
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Hello! This past Sunday I finally got the change to go to Miami Beach for my first ever beach/actual hunt. I started hunting in dry sand for about 3 hours (which FLEW by) and was getting lots of targets. Since I don't know all the sounds yet I would dig them up, slowing learning them (Bottle caps are easy to tell now!). When I noticed that 3 hours had passed I walked back to my car to put more time in the meter. Headed back out and decided to try my luck hunting in surf. At first I tried going about waist deep and immediately noticed that it was really hard to swing, really hard, and using my sand scoop to try and recover the target was an even greater task with all the waves throwing me off balance when trying to sink it in. I only ever got 2 targets while waist deep, a really heavy fishing weight and the bottom piece of a can (Dangerous!). After a while I decided to try my luck closer to the shore about knee deep or less and I at least started to get a lot more targets but was still having a little bit of difficult recovering it, mainly it would take me a long time to get it. So the purpose of this thread is to ask: Do you have any advice for a newbie in these situations? What location should I be looking for when hunting in the surf/dry sand? I have an Excalibur II and I'm using the RTG PRO 5" scoop.
Thank you in advance!
