Celebration!

[Crunchyhippo]

I'm officially celebrating my 30th detecting trip with zero gold or silver found. Looking forward to 30 more.

 

[Crunchyhippo]

Congratulations and I wish you another 30 hunting trips without finding any gold or silver.

Thank you for those few kind words.

 

[Crunchyhippo]

3 hours at Clearwater Beach last night and all I found was .31 cents, plenty of foil along with pull tabs and cans.
You can walk a mile in the water and not get a sound other than iron nulls.
Almost every other detectorist had a machine with a target ID.
(My guess is they're passing up everything not gold or silver).

Clearwater Beach had a perfect calm day yesterday when I arrived late afternoon. I must have spend an hour in the water. It was totally silent, like hunting on the moon, except for two signals, which turned out to be a bobby pin and a pull tab. You'd think that a place so busy, even with lots of detectorists, would at least have something to dig up. But Clearwater Beach must have people with detectors swarming it like army ants. The lack of things to find has been this way ever since I've been hunting it in the spring. I'd love to visit a different beach somewhere else, just to see if it has more signals and things to find. At least it's kinda fun chasing signals in the dry sand, even if they are all trash.

 

[Sand Swinger]

Clearwater Beach had a perfect calm day yesterday when I arrived late afternoon. I must have spend an hour in the water. It was totally silent, like hunting on the moon, except for two signals, which turned out to be a bobby pin and a pull tab. You'd think that a place so busy, even with lots of detectorists, would at least have something to dig up. But Clearwater Beach must have people with detectors swarming it like army ants. The lack of things to find has been this way ever since I've been hunting it in the spring. I'd love to visit a different beach somewhere else, just to see if it has more signals and things to find. At least it's kinda fun chasing signals in the dry sand, even if they are all trash.

If it makes you feel any better CH, you're not alone, lol. Just got back from the beaches of DE. Got there Sunday around 6pm to check into hotel, beach is 1 block up. I wasn't expecting to find much as this is a private beach. But my goal was to try out my "new" Dual Field, first time I've ever run a PI. Sunday night & Monday were supposed to be great weather, but hurricane Erin decided to move up the coast faster than planned, so it was windy, high tide was coming in. the slope was very steep, and the sand on the wet slope was soft with large sand granules, the kind of sand your feet sink into, so not good as that indicates fresh sand being deposited. I found plenty of trash on that first hunt, just as I had hoped so I could hear what the PI sounded like over various targets. But I did fine a Penny, so I was on the board for my first time using a PI, lol.

Next day went to a much larger beach, where wife and I got married. Wound up finding a wire fishing rig. Weather was getting really knarly. Wind was blowing hard, waves were bigger and more aggressive than the night before. I worked the wet from our location down to the 2nd lifeguard tower, probably a couple blocks, no signals at all. Wind and waves were loud & creating chaos. But then I got a good sounding, fairly deep signal. Took 2 scoopfuls of sand, then target disappeared, not in hole, not in sand pile, so based on experience, I knew what it was, probably a coin, and while I was digging, it got upended and was now vertical. But before I could stick my scoop back in a large wave must have come in because the rush of water almost knocked me off my feet, so I went up to the dry as I just wanted to hear targets, any targets. Except for the wire fishing rig, signals were sparse, and I didn't get any coins, silver, gold, or any other trash, but again, my main goal was to dig a variety of targets, especially junk targets, so I could hear tonal variations. So, with 1 penny and lots of trash, I consider the hunts to be a success, as I now know what some of these target's sound like, and the more I learn what trash sounds like on this PI, the less trash I'll dig in the future. So, if you learn something from every hunt, you never walk away empty handed.

 

[Crunchyhippo]

If it makes you feel any better CH, you're not alone, lol. Just got back from the beaches of DE. Got there Sunday around 6pm to check into hotel, beach is 1 block up. I wasn't expecting to find much as this is a private beach. But my goal was to try out my "new" Dual Field, first time I've ever run a PI. Sunday night & Monday were supposed to be great weather, but hurricane Erin decided to move up the coast faster than planned, so it was windy, high tide was coming in. the slope was very steep, and the sand on the wet slope was soft with large sand granules, the kind of sand your feet sink into, so not good as that indicates fresh sand being deposited. I found plenty of trash on that first hunt, just as I had hoped so I could hear what the PI sounded like over various targets. But I did fine a Penny, so I was on the board for my first time using a PI, lol.

Next day went to a much larger beach, where wife and I got married. Wound up finding a wire fishing rig. Weather was getting really knarly. Wind was blowing hard, waves were bigger and more aggressive than the night before. I worked the wet from our location down to the 2nd lifeguard tower, probably a couple blocks, no signals at all. Wind and waves were loud & creating chaos. But then I got a good sounding, fairly deep signal. Took 2 scoopfuls of sand, then target disappeared, not in hole, not in sand pile, so based on experience, I knew what it was, probably a coin, and while I was digging, it got upended and was now vertical. But before I could stick my scoop back in a large wave must have come in because the rush of water almost knocked me off my feet, so I went up to the dry as I just wanted to hear targets, any targets. Except for the wire fishing rig, signals were sparse, and I didn't get any coins, silver, gold, or any other trash, but again, my main goal was to dig a variety of targets, especially junk targets, so I could hear tonal variations. So, with 1 penny and lots of trash, I consider the hunts to be a success, as I now know what some of these target's sound like, and the more I learn what trash sounds like on this PI, the less trash I'll dig in the future. So, if you learn something from every hunt, you never walk away empty handed.

I'm trying a different, less frequented beach, maybe today, if it doesn't rain. A guy on a Youtube video allegedly found two gold rings at this beach on a trip this week (but you know how those videos are manipulated in order to get hits). But I think he's a retired, full-time detectorist, so he probably spent the entire day searching the area already. Still, in either the water or the surf sand, it would be nice to get more than one signal every 30 minutes, even if it is trash. I would consider getting a signal every 15 minutes a big success. It'd be way better than Clearwater Beach. I was out there again Monday - again, near-total silence in the water and nothing but trash found in the sand. Finding costume jewelry would be really exciting - forget actual gold or silver.

 

[Sand Swinger]

I'm trying a different, less frequented beach, maybe today, if it doesn't rain. A guy on a Youtube video allegedly found two gold rings at this beach on a trip this week (but you know how those videos are manipulated in order to get hits). But I think he's a retired, full-time detectorist, so he probably spent the entire day searching the area already. Still, in either the water or the surf sand, it would be nice to get more than one signal every 30 minutes, even if it is trash. I would consider getting a signal every 15 minutes a big success. It'd be way better than Clearwater Beach. I was out there again Monday - again, near-total silence in the water and nothing but trash found in the sand. Finding costume jewelry would be really exciting - forget actual gold or silver.

Getting a signal every 30 minutes isn't a problem, as long as you're getting the right signals, lol. Can't tell ya how many detecting videos I've watched where the guy was getting nothing but trash or junk jewelry, then he decided to leave, detected while he was heading back to his car and then found a really nice piece of cheddar. Guess it must be a psychological thing, but you could be having the worst detecting day ever, find nothing but trash, and then your last find is gold. That has a way of erasing all the trash you found earlier. 1 good find is all it takes to have a great day, lol.

 

[Crunchyhippo]

38th beach detecting trip yesterday. Grand total = 0 gold found, 1 small silver item found, 5 junk rings found. Finding 8 rings in a day (or 15 according to one Youtuber) seems statistically impossible, unless you're at a beach no one ever detects at.

 

[pepperj]

38th beach detecting trip yesterday. Grand total = 0 gold found, 1 small silver item found, 5 junk rings found. Finding 8 rings in a day (or 15 according to one Youtuber) seems statistically impossible, unless you're at a beach no one ever detects at.

You base your comment on your own detecting experience/knowledge.
"Seems statistically impossible."

Yet there has been countless of posts showing multiple rings found in one day.

The question is:
What is your detecting experience?
The 38 trips to the beach?

Have you taken the time, to take a few gold articles put them in a zip lock bags, bury them in the dry/wet sands.
Then go over each one using different settings to achieve the best sounding signal?

You seem to have evaded/ignored these questions before as you probably think they are just baseless.

The reason is to get a sense of is the OP a newbie, or an old dog.
Hope you realize that both can benefit from the 1000s of years of collective knowledge from the readership.
Best if luck on trip #39, #40, ......

 

[Crunchyhippo]

You base your comment on your own detecting experience/knowledge.
"Seems statistically impossible."

Yet there has been countless of posts showing multiple rings found in one day.

The question is:
What is your detecting experience?
The 38 trips to the beach?

How many trips to the beach does it take? You can't just casually blow off "it's only been 38 beach trips." If I told you your next 38 detecting trips would net you 1 insignificant result, I daresay you would be pretty discouraged, too, and if people were finding 8 or 15 rings in a single trip, I'd be finding at least one a trip, I think. I'm just at a sucky beach. Will I eventually find multiple rings or gold or silver if I keep going? Of course. But it could be on my 50th or 100th or 300th or 3000th trip. Just because I haven't been detecting for three years and found nothing doesn't mean that's what it takes before I can speak up.

 

[Sand Swinger]

How many trips to the beach does it take? You can't just casually blow off "it's only been 38 beach trips." If I told you your next 38 detecting trips would net you 1 insignificant result, I daresay you would be pretty discouraged, too, and if people were finding 8 or 15 rings in a single trip, I'd be finding at least one a trip, I think. I'm just at a sucky beach. Will I eventually find multiple rings or gold or silver if I keep going? Of course. But it could be on my 50th or 100th or 300th or 3000th trip. Just because I haven't been detecting for three years and found nothing doesn't mean that's what it takes before I can speak up.

It takes as long as it takes, different timetable for each person. Your beach "could" be a "sucky" beach OR it might be a great beach for the handful of detectorists that show up to hunt first thing in the morning. But if you can't get out there that early, but can only hunt later in the afternoon, after work, the beach may have turned from great to "sucky" for you, just because other guys may have been hitting that beach hard, several hours before you arrived. Can't say if that's what's happening in your specific case, but it happens to a lot of other hunters all the time, yours truly included.

Detecting, IMHO, is a journey. You might meet new friends along the way, you'll learn more about beach detecting, tides, winds, storms, better places on a beach to hunt, etc. You'll also continue to gain more and more experience, especially with your chosen detector. I've been swinging a Sovereign Elite for the last 14 years, so I'm very comfortable with that machine, have it down pretty well. But swinging my newly acquired Dual Field PI, I feel like a newbie, because I am a newb with PI detectors. No worries, I have much more to learn about my new PI, and I'll do better and better as I gain more experience. I'm on my own journey, you're on yours, everyone else is on theirs. Most of us here can sympathize with you, because we've been there ourselves.

If you haven't done so already, if you have a day off, holiday, etc., I suggest trying to be the first guy out on the beach right as the sun is starting to rise, or as early as it's permissible on your beach. Try being that first guy out, before any competition arrives, and see if your results are different than detecting later in the afternoon.

 

[pepperj]

Just because I haven't been detecting for three years and found nothing doesn't mean that's what it takes before I can speak up.

So is this your experience detecting?
(Which I found kind of confusing.)

You can certainly speak up regarding your detecting experiences

Though you still evaded the simple questions.
Which tells me basically that you're not going to.
So carry on lamenting your beach detecting.
Best of luck.

 

[LawrencetheMDer]

Thirty detector hunts is actually not very many...I would venture that most metal detectorists on the beach have never found gold based on personal survey (I talk to a lot of MDers on the beach). If you are not hunting beaches, finding gold may be far and few in-between. Personally, in the past 10-15 yrs, I have found gold an average of every 2 weeks when hunting 15 hrs/week from Dec to May on the west coast of Florida. However, when I first started hunting beaches seriously in the 2000s (I started land MDing in the early 70s) it took me nearly 2 yrs to find my first gold. Keep hunting, rewards will come from experience and a little luck.