Need your experience....please!

[FloridaGoldDigger]

I'm learning and am very addicted the this hobby. I read "gold beneath the waves" and started looking for the signs of where the gold is. Today I found a spot that was low, had a lot of shell, and took one scoop to find targets and smelled like $hit. I found pull tab after pull tab with black quarters, dimes, nickels, pennies. Unfortunately the tide was coming back in and it was getting dark. I was there for about a hour. I wish i could have spent more time like my normal 4-6 hour days.....question is ...was I in the right spot?

Thanks for all your help!

 

[firemac]

Sounds good, looks like there was shell for the targets to stop on, I only found one ring last weekend. Coins and tons of pull tabs and bottle tops, keep looking and hunting

 

[bigscoop]

There are so many variables and so much to learn it all just takes a lot of time. Think of it as pursuing a two to four year degree....pretty much the same thing. Crack the books and then treat it like an internship. There's just no quick process.

 

[Terry Soloman]

I ALWAYS get a lot of flak for saying this, but learning to read a beach takes about two-hours for a wet sand and water hunter. The real key is looking for low or depressed areas in the wet sand that have small pebbles and shells on the hard pack, areas that are solid underfoot (where your feet don’t sink into the sand), obvious “cuts” where heavy wave action at high tide has eaten away the beach, hard clay areas at the waterline, and making sure you are hunting the knee-thigh deep trough in the water at low tide on hard pack.

Beach hunting is not rocket science. If there is too much sand on top of the hard pack, your targets are going to be too deep to find – simple. If you really feel like you need to read books by “experts” then read them, but 99-percent of what you’ll read is just common sense.

Location, Location, Location! That is the REAL key to being successful. You need to hunt beaches that thousands – if not millions come to each season, and hit them at low tide after above average tides have moved sand off of them so you can get to the targets that are usually too deep to be recovered.

Dry sand hunting is even easier. Just watch where people are congregating on the beach at the high tide line and GRID that area when they leave. OK, I’m putting on my flame proof underwear..

 

[Jay In NewKen]

Idk, Terry, seems like solid and reasonable advice to me. I'll put it to the test next week for my last beach hunt of the year lol

 

[bigscoop]

Terry, I think what you say makes perfect and reasonable sense to an experienced beach hunter. But to someone who has never spent any amount of time detecting the sprawling vastness of crowded coastal beaches, well, I think it's all just a bit overwhelming for a while. I know it was for me when I first relocated to the East Coast of Florida. Also, some beaches change "a lot" from season to season and from day to day, while others pretty much stay the same and see very little change all. But you are correct because it does all come down to a lot of what you wrote.

 

[MBbeachrat]

Location, Location, Location! That is the REAL key to being successful. You need to hunt beaches that thousands – if not millions come to each season, and hit them at low tide after above average tides have moved sand off of them so you can get to the targets that are usually too deep to be recovered.

Dry sand hunting is even easier. Just watch where people are congregating on the beach at the high tide line and GRID that area when they leave. OK, I’m putting on my flame proof underwear..

I agree, need the tourist to drop the bling.

 

[dewcon4414]

My problem isnt reading a beach and knowing where to hunt..... my problem is others have been there. Those populated beaches also have a lot of competition and most have common sense. Ive got a lot of hours now under my belt..... and i still have to work a beach. Im not Babe Ruth i cant point my bat out yonder and in 30 min. im done. Its not as simple as Terry makes it sound, conditions change a lot based on seasonal tides and weather. It even determiners where your towel lines move. You have to recognize those spot that CAN produce.... but during recent drop times gold can be where you find it. These locations mentioned in many of the book are designed to reduce your helter schelter hunting that waste time when you dont have it.

Dew