In the water, in the winter???

[TheHawg]

I have never done any water hunting in the winter (except duck hunting). I was thinking of gearing up for it here in South Carolina.
What do you guys wear? Wet suit, dry suit, waders; and why. I already have a good pair of waders.

Also, I have noticed this summer that I can only hunt the water about one out of three trips due to the waves and currents. Do you guys experience this as well or am I just a candy a$$?

Thanks,
TheHawg

 

[thinkin2]

I'm in the same boat as you, Hawg. Living 5 minutes from Folly I do most of my hunting there and as you know, the breakers are too frequent and pretty strong at any time but low tide so I think we have a pretty small window for getting out beyond the breakers. I have tried hunting in them but it keeps you constantly off balance and trying to retrieve targets is a joke. Add to that the strong rip currents we often have and things can be a little dicey. I think a dry suit would probably be best but a thick wet suit would probably be okay too. But I don't think waders will be any good for anything but wettng your feet up to your knees. Also I would strongly advise anyone to wear at least a manually inflatable BC vest in the event you do get caught in a rip current. Personally I think I will go the wet suit way. Dry suits are nice but very expensive. Then again, I may just wait for warm weather for going out deeper than waders will allow. I don't know how much hunting you've been doing lately but my finds have been very slim for the past couple of weeks. I think I need to try somewhere else. Best of luck to you. --Jerry

 

[Craig-PI]

Winter is the best season for water hunting up here in connecticut... during the summer the sand moves in... during the winter it moves out...

I wear neoprene waders and neoprene guantlet gloves, I insert hothands into the gloves they help keep the fingers from freezing when swinging my detector... the gloves are trapper gloves that go all the way up to your shoulders...

Here is a beach I hunted right after I snapped these pictures last winter... they should warm you up a bit



http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v634/Cfmct/P9010393.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v634/Cfmct/P8290524.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v634/Cfmct/P8290525.jpg


http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v634/Cfmct/P8290523.jpg


Water temps were in the 30's...

 

[TheHawg]

Yes Thinkin2,
targets seem to have disappeared at all our beaches in Charleston. I think all the sand restoration sand washed down with the very high surfs we had a few weeks ago. When the first high surf/tides hit, I found a lot of interesting stuff high on the beach just below the little "cliffs" formed in the dry sand. I guess all the deep stuff in the dry sand washed down to the top of the wet sand. Now everything is covered. A guy with a Garrett PI and I hit the county park beach hard yesterday. He found 55 cents and I found 61 cents and a pair of sunglasses. It was my CZ-21's maiden voyage.

Craig-PI,
I don't think I would leave the house with weather like that!
Come on down where 31 degrees is very cold. It got into the 40's this morning and I'm freezing.

TheHawg

 

[thinkin2]

I think I've met the guy with the Garrett PI. He's a pretty nice guy. He found a nice silver ring last time I saw him at County Park. I was finding some good stuff every time I went out a month or so ago and for the past couple of weeks it's been next to nothing. Hope it gets better. --Jerry

 

[Cupajo]

The water conditions you have mentioned along the ocean beaches don't generally exist here unless you catch an "off" day!

We in Connecticut have been blessed with many opportunities to hunt year round in the water.

For winter I have used 5 Mil Neoprene waders and one piece insulated Car-hart coveralls with an insulated hood and thermal underwear and the same gauntlet type gloves Craig mentions with wool GI glove liners.

Wool socks with thermal liners in the over-sized wader boots round out the ensemble.

I buy everything "over-sized" so I can fit insulated layers underneath!

Where I hunt the water has no rip current issues and we are usually able to catch a low tide, low or no wave day without a problem as the "Sound" is pretty well protected by the length of Long Island, NY.

Chest deep on the calmest days in winter has never caused me me even think of a PFD as the footing is secure and no current or waves to worry about!

My only risk is slipping on the ice as I carefully pick my way out to the waters edge and leaking waders which get your attention damned fast!!!

There have been some sunny days when the wind is still and even though the air/water temps are very low I have gotten almost too warm in my waders when I was digging!

As for a dry suit in winter, I have'nt done it yet, but am working on it.

I'm still exploring how much and what kind of clothing I need to wear to stay warm.

My scoop can get slippery when the thin coating of water freezes, but it has never been a problem.

I can't imagine myself hunting in the conditions you fellows have described!!

Regards,

CJ

 

[rayredditch]

Neaoprene Waders or a full Drysuit.
HH Ray

 

[thinkin2]

It's not that the waves are all that high most of the time (surfers can only wish) but they come in fairly quick and close together. It's a real pain unless you get out beyond where they break. The swells aren't too bad to deal with though. I'm not tall, only 5-10 and usually I can get beyond them in waist to chest deep at low tide. But it's worse the closer to high tide that you are so maybe an hour or so before low tide to just after low. Once the tide turns to come back in usually the wind and surf will pick up fairly quickly. I would love to have the waters you hunt. Plus where you are is a beautiful area. I went to sub school in Groton many years ago. Really love that area. --Jerry

 

[goldnugget]

When you were at the ?? Folly Beach State Park area, have you walked South to the inlet. Have you found any of the small Copper Percussion Caps from around the Civil War Era. I was down in that area late at night during low tide, didn't find any coins just alot of the caps. was looking for some Bullets.
P/S, that was the night there wasn't any moon to see, it was scary, like I might fall off of the earth. Also, I came back North of the State Park Entrance gate-one block to far and thought my vechicle might have been towed, I walked almost a mile toward town and someone called theFolly Beach Police for me, he came down and found my vehilce where I had parked it. Gave me a ride back to my truck. Big News probably. T'Hunter Loose's Truck at the Beach.--I'll be down soon I hope if we get a North Easter like New Jersey got this week. goldnugget-Charlotte,N.C.

 

[TheHawg]

Goldnugget,
No percussion caps, but I found several small pieces of copper sheeting; from an old roof or siding I guess.
I've never hunted at night. Sounds interesting though.
Better get you a hand held GPS.
TheHawg

 

[thinkin2]

Way back before the renourishment program began dumping tons of sand on the beach we used to find tons of CW relics on Folly. The Washout area produced minnie balls, buttons, belt buckles, cartridge box belt plates and lots of other stuff. The old Coast Guard station at the upper most end of the island was good too and I had permission from them to hunt it and the combination to the gate bar that blocked the road going in. This was an abandonded old Loran station and many, many people hunted this area as well as the rest of Folly Island. Just across the inlet is Morris Island and at the upper end of Morris Island (actual location now under water) was Battery Wagner, the fort where the 54th Mass all black regiment launched the assault that was portrayed in the movie GLORY. The movie had the ocean on the wrong side of the island, lol. The locals find this funny. There is another area on the lower part of the island, inland from the beach and now developed, where an old friend of mine and another guy were hunting and discovered a mass gravesite that contained members of the 55th Mass, also an all black regiment. I have photos of the archaelogical dig at this site. I believe it was determined that they all died from disease. Anyway, at the Washout and some other locations when the sand really moved out good, you could find old bottles and ink wells laying on top waiting to be picked up. That was a lot of fun. I remember the end as they were spreading the renourishment sand up the beach, we were working one step ahead of the equipment trying to find what we could because we knew that would be the last of it from off of the beach. --Jerry