lines and troughs (?)

[Shuffler]

I've hunted the salt water beaches occasionally in years past and never have done really well there. O.K.,,, time to change that.... At any rate,,, Last July I purchase an Excal II and this thing is considerably "different" than my MXT that I am used to........ The excal and I have visited the (Jersey) beach very frequently since last July and we are not doing very well together...OK you say,,,,the excal is an excellent machine soooo ,,,, it must be the owner....Maybe so........ the only problem is,,,is that I go slow ( hence the name ) Shuffler and I dig everything.....I even dug nulls for a bit but kept getting hairpins so that had to stop......Well,,,, perseverance pays off...so we'll just keep plugging away...... My biggest question is,,, how to work the beach.......I hope you understand the following,,, your input would be greatly appreciated.........I try to work the wet sand,,only going ankle deep cause it is so hard to dig something out while the water keeps pushing sand back in the hole..... with that said,,,,,,,, I work parallel with the waters edge,,,,,,,, making an elliptical pattern perpendicular to the waters edge.Back and forth from the waters edge to the dry sand,,,, now....as you work this pattern,,,you will notice that every time you dig a target,,,,it generally lines up with previously dug targets ,,,,( fairly parallel ) with the waters edge........some detectorists call this a "line"......I borrowed a book from the local library and it was a beginners guide to metal detecting.....quite elementary but you can always learn something....... in one section of this book about beach detecting,,,,, the author describes finding "troughs" at the beach....... these troughs are pockets of stone, shells,coral and any heavier material than the normal sand.......this is where the "heavy stuff lays"........could this "line of targets" and "troughs be the same thing..........and above all.....when you find one,,....Is this where you want to really be concentrating on.... thank you in advance for any input Gene

 

[treasure_hunter]

Just speaking from my own experience now, I have found a lot more in the water then I ever found on the wet or dry sand. You have the Excal II, but your not really taking it where you need to go. It is like you bought a Porsche, but your only driving it 15 mph in the neighborhood. If your not hunting in the water with the excal, your missing the best partlllllll

What kind of scoop are you using? A beach hunter needs a g-o-o-d scoop, next to the detector it is the most important tool a beach hunter has. I use the Beach Brute II shown below, but there are many good scoops. Ignore the cost of the scoop, it will pay you back in finds, and like a good detector holds it's value when sold. I bought the original Beach Brute for $100 used on EBay, and sold it after 2 years for $75. To say I got my money back is an understatement. If you have a good scoop you can move a lot of sand quickly and get the good targets.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v222/omcsniper/beachbrute-1.jpg

I understand your up north and the season hasn't really started yet, get ready for it, get a good scoop, look for a good wetsuit, boots, and get ready for this years hunting season..Don't worry about the sand that falls back in, with a good scoop it is not a big issue. If I can do it you can, I turned 60 on my last birthday....

Check out the beach and water section on the Goldenolde..... http://thegoldenolde.com/

Good luck and good hunting......

 

[Shuffler]

I have worked in the water in the past but it sure is a different ballgame....... guess you must be right with using a different scoop .,,, So,,,,gonna git me a "man's " scoop and try-er again....... thanks very much for your imput Gene

 

[Cupajo]

As I understand these things, the line you described is right on.

It is the path you are searching and when you look back it will be a line leading to you from your starting point.

It works very well on beaches, but some folks would rather follow a grid pattern and search "blocks of beach at a time.

This only works when there are no people on the beach.

The idea being to very thoroughly cover a specific area.

This is good if you are looking for a particular lost object.

The trough occurs when weather conditions cause a cut-away in the beach sometimes above the high water line and sometimes along the waterline or maybe out in the water, usually close to the water's edge.

This removal of sand etc, by mother nature exposes goodies along the "cut" or "trough"normally not accessible to you and me.

Often, but not always the hardpan, stone or heavy gravel that is normally buried by sand gets exposed and this is hunting as good as it gets.

In some areas the wave action can not only remove the overburden of sand, but can move the goodies to a corral or catch basin created by the layout of the underlying strata.

This catch basin is the much sought after "honey hole" where many great treasures can accumulate.

It is rare, but can happen on some shores.

A little of studying of your favorite hunting grounds will help you to sort this stuff out when you have an understanding of these beach/weather dynamics.


GL&HH Friend,

Cupajo

 

[Surfdigger]

[size=large]Sounds like you hunt the Jersey Shore......I have a group page on Facebook called The Jersey Shore Beach and Surf Hunters....we are a group that discusses our shared passion of detecting the beaches at the Jersey Shore. This is a resource page full of tips, videos, and pictures that covers detecting below the tide line as well as drysand.....we have 21 members as of today and alot of us use Minelab machines.....You will have to join facebook....it's easy and best of all free....you can set up a basic profile to start and just join as a part of the group....you will then be able to access the links and communicate with the other folks there. I hope you can join us.....you won't be sorry.....it is a real learning experience and we would love to have another Jersey beach hunter to swap knowledge with....here is the link.....[/size]

http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=1025257649&v=feed&story_fbid=72003049449#/group.php?gid=54483518009

 

[Beachcomber]

http://thegoldenolde.com/oldego3.htm


The website above has article written about beach hunting by a person who is no longer with us but had a great deal of knowledge about beach and water hunting. Hopefully the info will be of some use to you and others here on the Forum that are new to beach hunting.

HH

Beachcomber

 

[beachsweep s.e.jersey]

I always called it the deposit line one thing that I did notice that after a full moon there seemed to be more targets on this line. you can actually look back and see the line of targets that you have dug and where you filled your holes back in.I was always amazed at this. thats the first thing I do is look for the deposit line on the wet sand. its not always there, it all depends on current and wave action .I hope this helps and hh to every one.

beachsweep

 

[bdahunter]

These lines are the 'Lane' and the 'Mine', the 'Lane' is the 1st trough you encounter as you move into the water from the wet sand, the 'Mine' is the 2nd trough. Personally, I find the Best Loot in the Mine but there are other Surf Pirates who swear by the Lane so it depends alot upon your particular beach at any given, particular time. The Surf/Beach is ALWAYS in motion so you have to adjust your style to find the loot. What works one day won't necessarily work the next day but you learn to adapt. Get Deeper, Run a Zig Zag pattern to establish where the Loot is and Good Hunting to You.

Cheers,

BDA

 

[tidewalker2]

I've been hunting on Rockaway Beach in NY for the last 30 years and rely on the presence of these "lines" for most of my finds in wet sand. When I get to the beach on the outgoing tide, I walk a zig-zag parallel to the tideline and do a spiral search around each find to a radius of about 10 feet. it dosen't take long for this method to establish the "line". At this point, I can shorten the zig-zag or start walking a grid perpendicular to the waterline that only encompasses the width of the "line". I've come to believe that the combination of the tide action and the longshore drift control the movement of coins on the beach. Witness the fact that many times, for example, I hit a good pocket on Beach 135 St. and 3 days later I'll hit the pocket on Beach 137 St with nothing to find at B 135.Ten years ago I performed an experiment; mad scientist and surf pirate that I am, and arrgh had some very interesting results. I marked 100 pennies and randomly threw them into the water along about 100 yards of beach. Two days later, I went back with my machine and searched a thight grid from my starting point for about 300 yards. I recovered 97 of the pennies in a LINE about 7 feet wide starting about 30 feet west of where I first threw them in. The longshore current in Rockaway runs from east to west so draw your own conclusions. Someday When I can afford it, I'm going to repeat the experiment to see if the size and weight of the coin affects its eventual placement on the beach.
I hope this helps you and others to increase your finds. Let me know. Good hunting to all in the upcoming season.
ED

 

[Shuffler]

Wow,......... thank you all for such great information..........anybody who does hunt the beach ought to read this stuff....... I thought I was on to something by observing the digging patterns and what I was digging in........ this is not just lucking out on an occasional ring or coin........ the beach is intimidating enough by its shear size...but ...this narrows things down a bit.........thank you all again........... Gene