Lots and lots of small silver and gold from the camp water

[tnt-hunter]

My wife and I went camping this past weekend at a spot about 80 miles away. It is a nice spot and they have a heavily used beach and swimming area. It is also heavily detected so sometimes I find lots of coins, rings and chains and other times I clean up mostly small stuff that others have missed. My wife gets to sit and knit and cross stitch and I get to go play in the water. She gives me all the time I want to detect (of course she gets first pick on all my jewelry). I’m a lucky guy.

We got there about 11 on Friday morning and there was a guy there detecting the beach. He was wearing chest waders and I could tell he had been doing the water and the beach in the first swim area (there are 2). But I thought he might have missed some goodies so I went into the water as he worked on the beach. I was concerned he may not have left me much but about 15 minutes into the hunt after finding some junk jewelry and some sinkers I scooped up my first gold earring of the weekend. The other guy moved to the second beach and did the beach and the water while I was still doing the water on beach one. I wanted to see how he was doing and introduce myself, but I looked up and he was gone. I could see him digging in the water on beach 2, but no idea if he was lucky or not. He may have gotten any coins that were there and maybe he got some big earrings and rings, but all my finds were small and I didn’t find many coins in the water and only a few on the beach.

I was using the ATPRO set on PRO ZERO with iron audio on and discrimination sent at 30. I had the sensitivity set 3 down to start, but they put in some new sand so targets were deeper than usual so i went to 1 or 2 down and sometimes on max. I moved low and slow trying to cover every inch of the sand in the water. I dug anything that was mid tone, high tone, or mixed low and mid. Some of the target were just a whisper in my ears, but if I bumped up the sensitivity they got better so I dug.

This is the greatest number of gold and silver from a single hunt in my18 years of detecting. Granted the weight of the finds is really low, but i had a blast scooping up all that jewelry.

The final count was:
8 - 10k jewelry
14 - 14k jewelry
1 - 18k earring back
20 - silver jewelry
25 - coins with a face value of $1.76
14 -pellet gun pellets
2 - fishing swivels
19 - sinkers
91 - cheapy earring backs
17 - fingernail shaped whatsits
46 - cheapy earrings
5 - rings and a half one
1 - MTA transit fare token
14 - miscellaneous pieces of jewelry
6 - tabs
And a pile of odds and ends

I covered about 90% of the first swimming area and about 60% of the second. It took 20 hours spread over 3 days to find the 284 plus misc. items. All of the items came from the water except for 22 coins (I only found 3 pennies in the water) and 4 of the tabs which were found on the beach.

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Top row coins, transit token, next 3 rows 14k jewelry (flower earring on the right has a spinel in the center of the CZs), bottom row 10K

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Silver items

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Pellets and fishing gear on top, earring backs on the bottom

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Cheapy earrings on the top, fingernail like whatsits on the bottom. Is anyone else finding these whatsits? I have just started finding them this year and really don’t have a clue what they are. I am really curious. Help would be appreciated.

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Miscellaneous items and jewelry on top, 5 cheapy rings on the bottom.

Sorry this took so long to post, but that is a lot of stuff to check out and count. What a weekend. I am tired, but happy and my wife got a lot done and had a great weekend as well. I did most of the cooking as usual for us and she says she really enjoyed what I fixed on this trip. She is a real trooper and I am a lucky guy.

Thanks for looking. I will be spending 2 days at a local park in the water. I don’t expect to find much, but with luck i will have something to show. May your coil lead you to good things

 

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[Greastart]

I've never tried hunting in water yet. How deep were you? What do you use for a scoop? Freshwater?

Thinking I need to go for a swim!

Grease

 

[califteacher]

Wow! What a haul! Thank you for the clear and concise photos. The main thing that came through in your post is that you had fun, and that's important. Interesting that you found so many earring backs, something that I haven't found yet. You certainly stayed busy with the many items that you recovered. I'm sorry that you didn't have a chance to compare notes with the other fellow who was detecting. Enjoy!

 

[vpnavy]

 

[RVRoamer74]

You did a super job cleaning up that beach area. I'd hate to arrive there to hunt the place the next day after you left. It would be a very Silent hunt. Ha! Wtg! Glad y'all had fun.

 

[Joe-Dirt]

Wow, tons of targets!! Great job!!

 

[Hawks88]

Nice! You got paid for cleaning up the beach. Nice haul. Congrats

 

[Rookster]

Super day. Congratulations

 

[Tuberale]

WTG tnt hunter. That's a lot of gold rings and earrings!

 

[A2coins]

Holy moly I wouldn't be leaving any time soon. Great job

 

[silverfreak]

That's a bucket load of targets with some very nice finds. Congrats!

 

[tnt-hunter]

I've never tried hunting in water yet. How deep were you? What do you use for a scoop? Freshwater?

Thinking I need to go for a swim!

Grease

This water was shallow, but I detect to neck deep. 99% of my water hunts are fresh water. I have a long handled stainless scoop. I bought it years ago and it doesn’t have a brand name. Good luck with your water hunting and keep swingin.

 

[tnt-hunter]

I've never tried hunting in water yet. How deep were you? What do you use for a scoop? Freshwater?

Thinking I need to go for a swim!

Grease

A fellow once told me that if he finds at least a penny and a piece of junk jewelry he is happy with his water hunt. Recovering some of the smaller targets can be tricky, but with practice I’m sure you’ll get the hang of it. A waterproof pinpointed and some sifter or float can be helpful as well. Everyone has their own system. Check out a few videos of water hunts on line and go from there. Good luck with your water adventures and keep swingin.

 

[tnt-hunter]

Wow! What a haul! Thank you for the clear and concise photos. The main thing that came through in your post is that you had fun, and that's important. Interesting that you found so many earring backs, something that I haven't found yet. You certainly stayed busy with the many items that you recovered. I'm sorry that you didn't have a chance to compare notes with the other fellow who was detecting. Enjoy!

I’m sorry I didn’t get to talk to him as well. I seem to find a lot of the earring backs and small split shot sinkers along with small beads. If you want to find them you have to bump up your sensitivity and go low and slow and listen very carefully. It take some practice, but I’m sure you can do it. Keep swingin.

 

[Greastart]

Thanks tnt. I have a couple target locations in mind. I'll see what comes of it.
Grease

 

[washingtonian]

20 hours over 3 days? You must be a mad man. Great work!

 

[Inspector]

Awesome weekend of hunts, sounds like a lot of fun retrieving all those targets, that's some real nice recoveries, congrats on all & HH

 

[Professor of Engineering]

Outstanding hunt, congrats!

 

[tnt-hunter]

Thanks tnt. I have a couple target locations in mind. I'll see what comes of it.
Grease

Good luck and keep swingin.

 

[tnt-hunter]

20 hours over 3 days? You must be a mad man. Great work!

Some of my family think I am obsessed with detecting and I guess they must be right. When you keep making good finds it’s hard to stop. I really felt the tiredness after I stopped. Keep swingin.