Another place you want to be sure to check is around the pilings or any obstructions that are in water during high tide, things get caught behind them and are buried, especially coins.
Now here is a detail not to be missed. The same thing happens behind rocks in streams and is why more than a few flakes of gold have been found in such backflows.
In case it helps to understand, its the same reason that it's a prime place for river/stream fish to be found. The water eddies around the rock or obstruction and literally swirls back into a standstill on the downstream side. Fish are as lazy as the next creature and would rather loaf in a quiet eddy than fight the water all the time. So, they wait in these back eddies, where anything carried by the water flow, from gold to insect larvae is swirled in behind the rock and deposited, easy pickings for the waiting fish.
You always hear that you should think big, right? Not in detecting! Thinking small, as in the small places, the small details, the small dot of your detectors field-cone at depth...these are the things that are important. This is where thinking small pays off big.
One thing not mentioned while beach hunting is when you recover something, slip the goodie away to study later. You never know who is watching you, planning to take it away. What they don't know can't hurt you.....
This is good advice anythime, of course, but even more so at the beach. You stand alone at the shore, unprotected, from more than just the wind. This is especially so at the winter beach, where you stand out by your mere presence. Everybody knows what you are doing with a detector at the beach and they can see you from far off. Here's a few tips to help thwart the malcontents of the world.
Keep your pouches' junk pocket full of trash. The grungier, the better. If, and more likely, When, someone approaches you and asks the inevitable question, "Find anything?" Give them this answer:
"Plenty!" you say, then reach deep into your trash pocket and pull out a handful of the stuff, waving it proudly in their face, pulltabs and iron blobs falling from your fingers. Grin from ear to ear like an idiot and say, "SEE!"
Most people already think youre a loonie waving your detector around, and this will help to cement that impression in their mind. Wear some black socks w/ cheap sneakers, a pair of goofy Bermuda shorts, a T-Shirt that says "Chick Magnet," and a frazzled straw hat, while you're at it. ----------------- Ok, Im kidding about that stuff!
Wearing a large divers knife, a big 'un, say 8", at your waist wouldnt be a bad idea. Knives are common marine tools and come in handy for all sorts of things like cutting seaweed, exploratory poking at objects (I was taught by an accompished diver friend to NEVER use your fingers), digging mini holes and, yes, discouraging sociopaths.
Nowadays, let a cell phone be easily seen, too, worn high on your chest.
Someone also mentioned to keep your detector covered. Excellent idea and I sugget you do it in scroungy bubble wrap and duct tape or masking tape. Seal it good, but make it look as ratty as you can. The other thing people are curious about is your equipment; thieves for the wrong reasons. If anyone asks about it, just say,
"What, this old thing? I got it for 50$ at a pawn shop. Im not even sure it's working right..." and show them your trash again.
Shiny black cases and bold letters like "XLT" emblazoned on the side nearly scream hi-tech ... which equates to $$$ in the moldy mind of your average crackhead. If they cant make your detector for more than a piece of crap, at least unidentifiable, then chances are better that they'll move on.
Also, if wading with that XLT, never raise the coil up higher than the control box as water in the shaft will flow into the guts and fry the land unit. It can happen back in the trunk of the car too.
Man, this is awesome information right here! Every land hunter does this, sometimes to stretch his arm, sometimes to unravel a twig or knock off a bit dirt from the coil. It is a learned, practiced movement and, worse, is unconscious - and could be murder on that $$ XLT if done without thinking.
Dehut is wise to the ways of detecting.
Hey, bro, Im in good company - the BEST, in my book. But, thanks.
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