How do you read the beach and surf after a storm?

[ToddD]

The west coast of Florida is about to get hit with really heavy surf, 7-10 foot swells.
How should I read the beach after it calms? Any thoughts on how I should approach a productive hunt after storms?
Sometimes I can snorkel and find cuts or trenches in the shallows to work, sometimes they're not so obvious.
Any tips are appreciated! Thanks

 

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[Terry Soloman]

You know your beach, you've hunted it before. After the storm you are looking first for obvious erosion and cuts long the high tide line. At low tide you are looking for depressions with black sand or clay with pebbles and "mini pot holes." These areas are not only promising, but if you follow them into the water you usually find the top-sand has been dragged away leaving the harder pack and heavy items like lead sinkers and gold.

 

[Tommybuckets]

If you can get ahead of the pack and be one of the first people out after a storm on a dropping tide, start on land for the fast and easy stuff. I hit from the towel line on down with the dropping tide paying particular attention to cuts (and the burm above them*) trenches both the bottom and edges. When you are getting old and heavy targets work that section hard. As more detectorists show up I get more into the water. I have gotten some great finds from the tops of steep edges above a great looking trench while the trench was empty. I think with the infinium you focus on the low/ hi tone for gold if you are overwhelmed with coins. I have one but prefer my excal. Once you find that productive area keep working it! I found a nice spot last time I was out in big surf. It was a long flat area with almost no slope (not ideal ) just down from the grade change but the sand was really hard packed (what you feel for) and I pulled two gold and seven silver items (including silver quarters from 1940-50s. I was sixty feet from the waters edge and dry one minute and the next the 8 foot surf would come in up to my hip and try to drag me out! Although it was too dangerous out there for the other guys without waterproof detectors I was the only person I talked to that got anything good. I should have kept working it but I thought I'd find another section like that before the tide came in. I didn't... Always when you get out there work the zig zag in and out of productive looking spots. When you look back there should be a line of holes (unless the tide is covering them) usually where the grade changes from steeper to shallower near the waters edge. If they are heavy targets keep working. If they are aluminum adjust your line to try to find the heavies. If targets are deep aluminum (pulltabs) go home and have a beer because the only thing you get at that point is exercise lol. As one of the Aussies says, "the gold line is between the pulltabs and the quarters / fishing weights" (closer to the fishing weights) . I think many people think the further out you go the more chance at finding goodies (I am one of those people) but you can go too far out and be missing the much easier gold and fight the tide too much resulting in less good swings and ground covered. Do you have an area picked out? Look at the way the storm is hitting (direction) and find a spot that rents to the honeymooners and see which way the combo of wind and waves has stripped the sand. Often 90degrees (waves straight on) doesn't do the most erosion. Also if there are rock jetties they catch targets migrating down the beach so these are easy lines to clean although the rocks in Md are hot to the detector so I go in all metal. Hope that helps.

 

[Billinoregon]

Nice little essay there, Tommy. I'm gonna print and save.