How to hunt ocean beaches?

[washingtonian]

Hey folks,

I've tried my hand at beaches a few times and have come up empty. I'm not hitting beaches that are particularly popular now, but rather beaches with history in hopes of finding old coins.

I've got one spot in mind that I think should produce. It's part of a private beach community in Island County, WA. In the play field just next to the dock, my brother and I have found probably 100+ old coins so I know this area hasn't been touched.

The original dock was where a foot ferry landed from the late 1800s to the 1940s. Now there is a boat dock there. With that much history in the area, I feel like there should be some old coins, but as I've poked around under and around the docks at low tide, I've yet to find a single one.

Do any of you beach hunters have suggestions about how to approach this? I wonder how much coin location and depth are impacted by the water, tides, shifting sands, etc.

Thank you!
-Washingtonian

 

Amazon Forum Fav 👍

Diving for Pleasure and Treasure - Grab it through Amazon!

[redcobra8u]

You have to consider that they possibly added rock etc when they constructed the boat docks. Things could be buried very deep. My suggestion is to hit low tide where people would have assembled for the ferry. See if you get any hits there. If I were a betting man, I'd say the construction of the dock buried things.

 

[ChampFerguson/TN]

Watch the sand come and go relative to the dock over time. I think you may be surprised at how radical a change you will see.

 

[RobRieman]

I would go back to the the play field and get the rest!

 

[dewcon4414]

Lighter surface targets tend to move a great deal base on a lot of factors..... weather and tides have the most affect. You might be surprised how close to shore some of these coins may be. Now days very little is disturbed when putting in a dock. I hit an OLD floating casino/docking area ....... i ran into a huge amount of trash.

 

[Tommybuckets]

What type of machine are you using? Most machines won't achieve much depth in salt water sand. The field sounds like the better place. Coins will be easier to find and not as badly corroded. Champ also has a point there are good times to look like after a storm or the change of the beach to its winter state when it gets a distinctive trough down in the water. Hit the low spots/ dips, the rip tide areas (safely lol). Most of the coins seem to get concentrated and are only revealed in quantity under certain conditions. Here on the east coast old coins are rarely exposed but I have pulled silver coins off the beach that had just been uncovered after many years.

 

[washingtonian]

What type of machine are you using? Most machines won't achieve much depth in salt water sand. The field sounds like the better place. Coins will be easier to find and not as badly corroded. Champ also has a point there are good times to look like after a storm or the change of the beach to its winter state when it gets a distinctive trough down in the water. Hit the low spots/ dips, the rip tide areas (safely lol). Most of the coins seem to get concentrated and are only revealed in quantity under certain conditions. Here on the east coast old coins are rarely exposed but I have pulled silver coins off the beach that had just been uncovered after many years.

Wow, thanks for all the great replies and thoughts everyone. I am using a White's DFX. Probably not your ideal beach machine. What you are saying makes a lot of sense. Thank you!

 

[Terry Soloman]

Winds and waves move sand around. Make sure you are hunting at Low Tide. If your feet are sinking into the wet sand, the beach is "sanded in." Too much "overburden" or new sand over targets making them too deep to hear. Just Keep Swinging and gridding!

 

[slider66]

Gridding is the biggest factor. Look for the hard packed sand and hit the beach a few hours before low tide and work through low tide. Take your time and swing slow. I lot of people swing high and fast. I see it all the time. Wondering around an area may give you a few nice finds but gridding will always be the best way to attack a beach.

 

[ChampFerguson/TN]

You do have a good scoop, right?

 

[washingtonian]

You do have a good scoop, right?

Nope! Never done too much beach hunting so I just use a shovel.

 

[cudamark]

First of all, you need a better salt water beach machine if you want to detect targets at more than a few inches. Next, I'd hit the historical society and find some photos of what the dock area looked like 100+ years ago. that should give you some indication as to the changes made over the years.

 

[ChampFerguson/TN]

Nope! Never done too much beach hunting so I just use a shovel.

You might consider getting a scoop if you get serious about beach hunting. Targets in the wet sand will be much easier to retrieve. Using a shovel, I imagine that a pinpointer will be a great help too.

 

[slider66]

You might consider getting a scoop if you get serious about beach hunting. Targets in the wet sand will be much easier to retrieve. Using a shovel, I imagine that a pinpointer will be a great help too.

I never use a pinpointer. I just kick the pile of sand to the side and find the strongest signal. Try it for a while and you won't need it. You won't need one in the water either.

 

[CASPER-2]

Also not all tips are good in all areas - I hunt north east mostly - stuff in my articles may not apply or work in your areas - some techniques southern guys use
no good up here - not all machines work the same in all areas... PIs real good up here - not usually recommended down in Fla. - just one example
good luck

 

[ChampFerguson/TN]

I never use a pinpointer. I just kick the pile of sand to the side and find the strongest signal. Try it for a while and you won't need it. You won't need one in the water either.

I learned metal detecting when there was no such thing as a pinpointer. They make recoveries, especially of tiny items on the beach much faster. Just trying to be helpful.

 

[CharlesUpstateNY]

I hunted Cannon Beach, OR on Tuesday its horribly sanded in. Walked 1/4 mile south to a small cut, there were 3 small nails there. Walked 1/2 mile north and back, gridding, zig zagging, hit the lower beach, mid beach, upper beach, on my way back I finally got a signal...1 crown cap. Only target dug in well over a mile of detecting...in front of the busiest part of town, public parking lot was about 3/4 full. North in front of some large condo buildings same story no coins no targets no trash bleako.

Nobody swims on these beaches the water is too cold which cuts down on the drops. There should be some targets out there but a storm or two needs to drag some sand off the beach.

DFX not a good salt water beach machine, but don't feel bad I couldn't reach the targets with my Explorer SE Pro cranked in all metal, full tilt wide scan either. A pin pointer is not required for beach hunting, I never use mine. Though I will not hunt inland in the dirt without one. Some people take a scoop and check the hole, if the target is in the scoop they shake the sand out. I find that takes way too much energy, plus I have a monster stainless scoop that weighs like 8 lbs. I dump the scoop out on the wet sand, kick the pile a few times its pretty easy to isolate the target down to a smidgeon of sand which I pick up with the front tip of my scoop e.g. no bending over beach hunting.

Here's some motivation for you...

 

[washingtonian]

I hunted Cannon Beach, OR on Tuesday its horribly sanded in. Walked 1/4 mile south to a small cut, there were 3 small nails there. Walked 1/2 mile north and back, gridding, zig zagging, hit the lower beach, mid beach, upper beach, on my way back I finally got a signal...1 crown cap. Only target dug in well over a mile of detecting...in front of the busiest part of town, public parking lot was about 3/4 full. North in front of some large condo buildings same story no coins no targets no trash bleako.

Nobody swims on these beaches the water is too cold which cuts down on the drops. There should be some targets out there but a storm or two needs to drag some sand off the beach.

DFX not a good salt water beach machine, but don't feel bad I couldn't reach the targets with my Explorer SE Pro cranked in all metal, full tilt wide scan either. A pin pointer is not required for beach hunting, I never use mine. Though I will not hunt inland in the dirt without one. Some people take a scoop and check the hole, if the target is in the scoop they shake the sand out. I find that takes way too much energy, plus I have a monster stainless scoop that weighs like 8 lbs. I dump the scoop out on the wet sand, kick the pile a few times its pretty easy to isolate the target down to a smidgeon of sand which I pick up with the front tip of my scoop e.g. no bending over beach hunting.

Here's some motivation for you...

View attachment 1489230

dang, nice haul. Thanks for the thoughts!!

 

[signal]

Boat docks are good targets. BUT they are trashy as hell. Be patient, take time clearing the massive amount of trash, fishing lures, sinkers, cans, bottle caps, etc that will be everywhere around it. If it was used as long ago as you say, then yes you will find some cool stuff.