Headed to freshwater beach with at pro for first time!

[Illinirelics]

So my wife and I are headed to Wakonda beach in Missouri this weekend and I'm taking my AT Pro to the swim beach for its first time around water. Any tips or advice on settings? The hours on the permit are outside of swimming hours so I'm hoping to have it to myself. This will be my first time ever on sand or water.

 

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[Bugalooob]

Personallu I wouldn't submerge the main housing...Iv'e been reading abought issues with the face plate seals and battery compartment seals....some postd I believe even mentioning the coil leaking when submered...if its still in warranty go for it and see what happens..I personally us a dedicated water machines for diving like the Tesoro shark1 or 2 which was made backi in the 90's..I forgot the exact name but this thing was build of thick hard plastic, never leaked down to 40 ft

 

[Illinirelics]

It's only a swim beach out to about 6 or 7 foot deep. If it leaks it's under warranty. I am looking for tips on settings or techniques with the AT Pro on wet/dry sand and shallow water. Thanks!

 

[Xraywolf]

I have had mine under water many many times with no problems. Could never understand guys who pay a premium for a hybrid water machine then are skittish dunking them.

Obviously, make sure your 2 connections are good and tight, with their poor location so close to the housing, finger turning may not be enough [needle nose pliers].

I just use basic coin mode and sometimes manually GB, sometimes not. I wear rings so I do a quick wave test. If the beach is clean I'll jack sensitivity up full, and come down as necessary if there is chatter/falsing. Also be sure to secure the coil wire at numerous places up the stem with zip ties, wave action can cause alot of falsing with a flopping cord.
You didn't say what kind of scoop you have but you'll need a good one to recover, some beaches are soft and sandy and you can dig down a ft with a single scoop, some are hard packed, some are clay, some are rocky, some are loaded with silt/seaweed that make recovery difficult.

As on land, try to set up a grid and do slow, overlapping passes looking for good, repeatable signals. Pinpointing is usually easy, then its up to you and the scoop. The deeper you go the harder it can be to recover. I often get the target on the 1st scoop, and sometimes you can spend half an hour trying to recover a promising sounding target. Sometimes the culprit is a small item like a stud that slips through the scoop, sometimes its a can buried a ft under the sand, along with other things. Don't pass on foil/bottecaps, impossible to reliably separate their signal from jewelry.

Of course, you must also have something to store finds in, including trash. I use a mesh bag that just attaches to the machines handle, and also a carbiner clip to securely store found rings. I also use a floating sand sifter that really helps move things along in the water, especially beaches with pebbly bottoms that can make it tough to locate even a ring in the scoop http://www.treasurenet.com/forums/beach-shallow-water/507615-floating-sand-sifter.html

But not a necessity, and probably a bit late to think about making one yourself, maybe something to keep in mind for next season.

 

[Illinirelics]

Great tips Xraywolf! Thank you. Unfortunately I don't yet have a digging tool for sand and the rules on the permit are very limiting. Basically no longer than a foot total and no more than 8 inches wide. If I am reading it correctly I won't even be able to use a strainer which was my plan. I'll post the exact verbiage and see what you think

 

[Xraywolf]

Scoop is a key part of recovery, 2nd only to detector itself - That exactly why guys spend $200-$500 on a quality scoop.

I have seen people literally use strainers, they may work marginally well in the very softest of sands, anything else and they are useless, plus you are pretty much limited to knee deep as your face would be in the water any deeper scooping with a strainer.

But you work with what you have, sooo ... I dunno. I wouldn't get too excited at your prospects under the circumstances.

 

[100acre]

The guys at Garrett said I could use petroleum jelly to seal the connectors at the O-Ring. No need for silicone grease. I'd definitely seal that area with something due to it being a connection where water could get in. I've had my AT Pro dunked and so far so good.

 

[Illinirelics]

The permit reads"any tool used for digging or probing cannot exceed 12" in length and 3" in width. Suction dredges may not be used". I don't see any tools worth anything fitting that description!

 

[Xraywolf]

That is bizarre, I'd take a chance and bring a proper scoop and play dumb if "caught", not likely to care all that much in mid Sept ,,, But seems you don't have one anyhow.

 

[Fletch88]

If you have the waterproof headphones I enjoy snorkeling and fanning for targets more than scooping anyway. Just set machine wide open and dig all repeatable signals. You have to dig foil and tabs to get the gold! No way around it! I sometimes jut select coin mode which notches out tabs and foil if o get tired of digging. You will still get some sizes/ carat of gold but not all. Good luck and HH!

 

[Sandman]

The guys at Garrett said I could use petroleum jelly to seal the connectors at the O-Ring. No need for silicone grease. I'd definitely seal that area with something due to it being a connection where water could get in. I've had my AT Pro dunked and so far so good.

Don't use petroleum jelly on O-ring. This jelly will eat the rubber o-ring. Garrett wants you to buy a new ATP. Silicone grease is inert. Take it from a diver.

 

[MackDog]

Dig all good repeatable signals in the water. Pulltabs sound the same as gold rings. If you get a weak signal or iffy lift the coil a bit and recheck if it disappears it's probably a fishing weight. They tend to fall right out the scoop.