Tampa/Palm Harbor suggestions

Swills · Aug 17, 2011

Visiting some fiends in the area and am planning on doing some detecting this weekend. I see a beach on Honeymoon island that looks interesting. Can anyone tell me if its ok to MD there? Plan on bringing the DF and GT, better to hunt water or stay dry in this area? Or any suggestions for the area would be appreciated. Usually hunt Jacksonville so not familiar with the area.

COTTON · Aug 17, 2011

Great beach to hunt.But its not for the lazy.Never hunted the dry.Good luck. :tongue3:

dc426 · Aug 17, 2011

Honeymoon island is either a state park or county park (can't remember) either way you'll need a permit to detect there and you can not go in the water. I would suggest any one of the beaches up and down the coast that are not state or county parks.
DC

tincansam · Aug 17, 2011

gold-digger · Aug 17, 2011

Honeymoon Island is a State Park.
I can tell you past experience. Parking is expensive, $6 single person, $8 for two or more in the car. The rocks on the beach are a pain and you can get hunt if not careful walking. Digging amongst the rocks is tiresome.
Depending on which ranger is working, depends on if they'll let you in the water. Some will tell you, that you can only hunt the sand, other wont even bother you, (unless someone complains).

Good luck and remember Clearwater beach is just 20 mins down the road.

http://www.myclearwater.com/gov/depts/pwa/engin/projects/beachwalk/beachwalkcam/index.asp

steve from ohio · Aug 17, 2011

crackerjohn said:
i live close to tampa all along gulf coast is great just look for where alot of people are in the water and go their , some

suggestions are clearwater beach , st. pete beach , and a park called ft. desoto their you need a permit to hunt, all they want to

tell you where it's ok to hunt which is the beach and not the inside of the park as long as your in the water at the beach they

have never checked me to see if i have my permit just common sense, you'll have to pay to park at st. pete beach and not sure

how much or how much it is to park at clearwater beach, also if you go futher south to bradenton their are some reel nice

beach's their, please leave some gold for me thow !!!! HH

You don't need a permit to hunt Fort Desoto beach. I've hunted there lots of times and no permit is needed or is even able to be had.

Some of the best hunting is away from the main beaches. The main beaches are hunted almost every day. There are some stretches of sand that have never had a detector on them.

COTTON · Aug 17, 2011

You do need a permit to hunt FT.Desota,You dont need one for Honeymoon island. :tongue3:

Well you might whant to ask the Ranger at the pay station to be on the safe side at Honeymoon i never had one.

Swills · Aug 18, 2011

Thanks everyone for the advice. As honeymoon island is practically 5 mins from my friends, I may give that a good scouring. I will ask at the pay area to check on any permit needed and hopefully I get a ranger that will let me in the water. Plan on giving the DF a workout. At least I won't have to worry quite as much about wave action as on the East coast. Will post if I actually dig anything of value, heck ill even post the junk I find, lol.

DewGuru · Aug 18, 2011

A permit is required for Desoto and it is readily available at the guard station. No permit is required at honeymoon, however, it is in fact a state park, no hunting of the water, period. Makes no difference who the idiot on duty is. While some may turn a blind eye to seeing you in the water, rules are still the rules, regardless of how idiotic they are. While hunting in the dry sand is allowed, how long will it be if people continue to violate the rules they have in place now.

Swills · Aug 18, 2011

Maybe I will just make it easy on myself and hit Clearwater beach. Only a 20 minute ride to save myself a headache and entry fees, lol. Wonder how well the water gets searched in that area.

DewGuru · Aug 18, 2011

Swills said:
Maybe I will just make it easy on myself and hit Clearwater beach. Only a 20 minute ride to save myself a headache and entry fees, lol. Wonder how well the water gets searched in that area.

20-40 people per day, at least.

I have the best luck on more 'obscure' beaches.

Swills · Aug 18, 2011

That's a lot of detecting. Lol, even if only half have decent technique that is still more than I generally see in Jax. May have to rethink and scan good old google maps for other areas.

COTTON · Aug 18, 2011

Well Dew is right about Honey Moon island,I just got off the phone with the parks department.You can only hunt the dry .Im glad this topic came up. :tongue3:

johnnybuckets · Sep 17, 2013

No permit required for Honeymoon Island, you are correct sand dunes to water line only in Most of Florida beaches

johnnybuckets · Sep 17, 2013

To be honest you will pay as much in Parking at Clearwater Beach as it cost to enter Honeymoon state park and the ticket is good for all day just keep the receipt.
Good Luck

Tom_in_CA · Sep 17, 2013

This is all sort of humorous where one person (DC) or more says "you need a permit". Yet others say "nah, I hunt there all the time, no one cares, no "permits", etc...).

So what is the Knee-jerk reaction by the OP? To go seek clarification. Ie.: ask at the kiosk "can I detect?" or "do I need a permit?" etc.. Seems logical enough, right? I mean, who better to ask, than the entity themselves, doh! :tongue3:

But doesn't anyone SEE IT? Guess what's going to happen next when enough people show up asking desk-bound bureaucrat's "can I do such & such?". Think real hard now .......

It's only going to be a matter of time before someone gets it in their head to "address this pressing issue" And then guess what the safe or easy answer will be? Sheesk, it's as if we md'rs can be our own worst enemies, eh? I sure hope that where I/we hunt in my areas with no problems, that no one goes "seeking clarification". Things are just fine. Sometimes no one cares ..... UNTIL you ask.