Sand Sifter
Active member
Last week, I booked a 3-night stay down in DE, so I could spend a couple days detecting after the nor’easter. I decided to take my Minelab Sovereign Elite w/12x10 SEF coil, as it has auto iron reject and all-tones, and my “new to me” White’s Dual Field PI “Franken DuFi”, which was previously owned & modded by OBN/Joe Beechnut. My “plan” was to hit a popular beach with my Sovereign first, to determine if there was a lot of iron present. If not, I’d go back with my DF PI and search for deep, whisper targets. Although this is a popular beach, I never really liked hunting this beach, it just didn’t resonate with me, so I probably only hit it about a dozen times in the last 14 years. But I thought I’d give it another try since a nor’easter had just come through.
So that was the “plan”, but as Mike Tyson says, “everybody has a plan until they get punched in the face”. And boy did I get punched in the face, lol. Little did I know that I’d be really sick during this trip. Woke up Sunday & Monday with a sore throat, hurt to swallow, so I knew what was coming as I’ve had this before. On Tues, the day we drove down to check into the hotel, it hit me good, a sinus infection & bronchitis. After checking into the hotel, we had about an hour left of daylight, so I decided to take the wife & dog on a recon trip to the beach to check out the conditions.
Tuesday 10/14/25 - recon scouting trip to Beach 1
There were no cuts, bowls, or troughs formed due to the nor’easter. Or if there were, they disappeared by the time we got to the beach. The normal slope was gone, and the entire beach was a flat gentle slope, and there was a LOT of black sand for as far as the eye could see.
This wooden structure had washed up from the nor’easter, so I was hoping that coins & bling would have been thrown up to the dry as well. Black sand was everywhere.
Wednesday 10/15/25 - hunting Beach 1
Wife, dog & I hit the beach. Wife set up her chair, and I started hunting with my Sovereign Elite. There were 2 other hunters on the beach, both swinging Manti’s on the dry, then later, I saw a total newbie swinging a red, unknown brand detector. He didn’t have a scoop, pouch, headphones, and was swinging his coil about 6-8” above the sand, so obvious he didn’t have a clue and was just putzing around.
Man, I was feeling like sh*t, but I was there and determined to hunt, although I was only able to hunt for 3 hours before feeling so bad I had to quit. Walking in water, sand and digging holes is physically exhausting when you’re sick, coughing up a lung and having trouble breathing. I started off on the wet & shallow water and was surprised that I didn’t get a lot of iron nulling, so it seemed promising. But I quickly remembered why I never liked hunting this beach, as I started finding can slaw, a 50 cal projectile, & space poop, which is basically small pieces of exploded ordnance.
I did find a dime & penny, so I didn’t get skunked. But after walking about 2 blocks down, I was getting to the point of exhaustion, so I turned around and started hunting the dry on my way back to the wife. The trip back on the dry was rough, had to stop frequently to catch my breath & rest a bit. But I took that time to look out at the ocean, which always seems to have a very relaxing and calming effect.
But although my initial “plan” was to hit this beach with my Sov on day 1, then come back with my PI on the 2nd day, I decided to hit a different beach the next day with my PI, one of my all-time favorite beaches.
Thursday 10/16/25 - hunting Beach 2
Beach 2 is one of my Top 2 favorite beaches that I’ve hunted hundreds of times over the last 14 years, so I put on a brave face to the wife, but truth was, I was feeling even sicker than the previous day, and was only able to muster hunting for 2 hours before my body gave out and I had to stop. My wife decided to stay back at the hotel with the dog, so I went solo. When I arrived, there wasn’t anyone on the main beach, no other hunters, and just a couple people further down the beach on each side walking their dogs or taking a stroll, so I had the entire beach to myself. This time, I was swinging my PI “Franken DuFi”, so I knew I could get deeper in the wet/shallow water than even with my Sov & 12x10 SEF Butterfly coil.
Like the previous beach, I didn’t see any cuts, bowls or troughs; the entire beach was flat, with just a very slight slope down to the water. I started on the wet and noticed something interesting. The top 1/2 of the wet was typical firm wet sand. But midway down the wet and running down into the water, the lower wet slope had large granule soft sand, soft enough that my feet sunk as soon as I stepped on. I figured deposited sand and was right, as I didn't get any signals in the lower 1/2.
Interestingly, I found less trash with my PI than I did the day before with my Sovereign. I found a few pieces of trash like a tent stake, pulltab, pieces of wire and some can slaw, but when I concentrated on hunting the top 1/2 of the wet with firmer sand, I found a coin. Once I heard what that coin sounded like on my PI, I focused only on similar tones to conserve my energy to dig. After the first dime, found a couple more then looked back at the holes I dug and could see a fairly straight coin line. I then moved over to the other side of the beach, staying on the top 1/2 of the wet following the coin line from the previous side, and focused on listening for similar signals. Got an encrusted penny, then got a signal I thought was a coin but was surprised to find a ring. This was the first ring / bling found with my PI, and was only the 4th time I’ve ever run this, or any PI.
Less trash, more coins, and a ring found with my Dual Field PI after 2 hours.
After taking a few scoops, when I saw the ring sitting on top of the sand, I originally thought it was junk or costume, so I just placed it in my pouch and kept going. After finding the ring, I found a quarter that was white, lol. After digging the quarter, my body & head had enough, so I decided to go back to the truck and head back to the hotel. As I turned to start walking back, I noticed another hunter had arrived, swinging a Manti, so I gave him a wave as I was walking back to the truck.
When I got back to the hotel, I washed the ring off with water, pulled out my lighted magnifier, and was pleasantly surprised to see 925 stamped inside the band. It wasn't gold, but I'll take 925 Sterling any day. I don't have a diamond tester so I don't know if the stones are real, lab grown, fake, but truthfully, I really didn’t care as it's always great to find a ring, especially since I was so sick and couldn't spend a lot of time hunting. Finding that ring was a thrill, gave me a shot of adrenaline and perked me up a bit.
If I wasn’t sick, I would have hit each of those beaches for 4 - 8 hours each. But all in all, after being sick as a dog and only being able to hunt a total of 5 hours for 2 hunts, I’m happy with the way things turned out. Finding that ring was the turning point, and as soon as I found it, I felt relieved and considered the trip to be a success. It wasn’t gold or huge cheddar, just Sterling, I don’t know if the stones are real or fake, but based on how bad I was feeling during the hunts, I consider finding that ring to be a success. And now that I know exactly what coins and the ring sounded like on my PI, I’m gonna take Franken DuFi back to that same beach once I’m back to being healthy and I’ll spend a LOT more hours on the wet and in shallow water to see what other treasures might be waiting for me to uncover.
So that was the “plan”, but as Mike Tyson says, “everybody has a plan until they get punched in the face”. And boy did I get punched in the face, lol. Little did I know that I’d be really sick during this trip. Woke up Sunday & Monday with a sore throat, hurt to swallow, so I knew what was coming as I’ve had this before. On Tues, the day we drove down to check into the hotel, it hit me good, a sinus infection & bronchitis. After checking into the hotel, we had about an hour left of daylight, so I decided to take the wife & dog on a recon trip to the beach to check out the conditions.
Tuesday 10/14/25 - recon scouting trip to Beach 1
There were no cuts, bowls, or troughs formed due to the nor’easter. Or if there were, they disappeared by the time we got to the beach. The normal slope was gone, and the entire beach was a flat gentle slope, and there was a LOT of black sand for as far as the eye could see.
This wooden structure had washed up from the nor’easter, so I was hoping that coins & bling would have been thrown up to the dry as well. Black sand was everywhere.
Wednesday 10/15/25 - hunting Beach 1
Wife, dog & I hit the beach. Wife set up her chair, and I started hunting with my Sovereign Elite. There were 2 other hunters on the beach, both swinging Manti’s on the dry, then later, I saw a total newbie swinging a red, unknown brand detector. He didn’t have a scoop, pouch, headphones, and was swinging his coil about 6-8” above the sand, so obvious he didn’t have a clue and was just putzing around.
Man, I was feeling like sh*t, but I was there and determined to hunt, although I was only able to hunt for 3 hours before feeling so bad I had to quit. Walking in water, sand and digging holes is physically exhausting when you’re sick, coughing up a lung and having trouble breathing. I started off on the wet & shallow water and was surprised that I didn’t get a lot of iron nulling, so it seemed promising. But I quickly remembered why I never liked hunting this beach, as I started finding can slaw, a 50 cal projectile, & space poop, which is basically small pieces of exploded ordnance.
I did find a dime & penny, so I didn’t get skunked. But after walking about 2 blocks down, I was getting to the point of exhaustion, so I turned around and started hunting the dry on my way back to the wife. The trip back on the dry was rough, had to stop frequently to catch my breath & rest a bit. But I took that time to look out at the ocean, which always seems to have a very relaxing and calming effect.
But although my initial “plan” was to hit this beach with my Sov on day 1, then come back with my PI on the 2nd day, I decided to hit a different beach the next day with my PI, one of my all-time favorite beaches.
Thursday 10/16/25 - hunting Beach 2
Beach 2 is one of my Top 2 favorite beaches that I’ve hunted hundreds of times over the last 14 years, so I put on a brave face to the wife, but truth was, I was feeling even sicker than the previous day, and was only able to muster hunting for 2 hours before my body gave out and I had to stop. My wife decided to stay back at the hotel with the dog, so I went solo. When I arrived, there wasn’t anyone on the main beach, no other hunters, and just a couple people further down the beach on each side walking their dogs or taking a stroll, so I had the entire beach to myself. This time, I was swinging my PI “Franken DuFi”, so I knew I could get deeper in the wet/shallow water than even with my Sov & 12x10 SEF Butterfly coil.
Like the previous beach, I didn’t see any cuts, bowls or troughs; the entire beach was flat, with just a very slight slope down to the water. I started on the wet and noticed something interesting. The top 1/2 of the wet was typical firm wet sand. But midway down the wet and running down into the water, the lower wet slope had large granule soft sand, soft enough that my feet sunk as soon as I stepped on. I figured deposited sand and was right, as I didn't get any signals in the lower 1/2.
Interestingly, I found less trash with my PI than I did the day before with my Sovereign. I found a few pieces of trash like a tent stake, pulltab, pieces of wire and some can slaw, but when I concentrated on hunting the top 1/2 of the wet with firmer sand, I found a coin. Once I heard what that coin sounded like on my PI, I focused only on similar tones to conserve my energy to dig. After the first dime, found a couple more then looked back at the holes I dug and could see a fairly straight coin line. I then moved over to the other side of the beach, staying on the top 1/2 of the wet following the coin line from the previous side, and focused on listening for similar signals. Got an encrusted penny, then got a signal I thought was a coin but was surprised to find a ring. This was the first ring / bling found with my PI, and was only the 4th time I’ve ever run this, or any PI.
Less trash, more coins, and a ring found with my Dual Field PI after 2 hours.
After taking a few scoops, when I saw the ring sitting on top of the sand, I originally thought it was junk or costume, so I just placed it in my pouch and kept going. After finding the ring, I found a quarter that was white, lol. After digging the quarter, my body & head had enough, so I decided to go back to the truck and head back to the hotel. As I turned to start walking back, I noticed another hunter had arrived, swinging a Manti, so I gave him a wave as I was walking back to the truck.
When I got back to the hotel, I washed the ring off with water, pulled out my lighted magnifier, and was pleasantly surprised to see 925 stamped inside the band. It wasn't gold, but I'll take 925 Sterling any day. I don't have a diamond tester so I don't know if the stones are real, lab grown, fake, but truthfully, I really didn’t care as it's always great to find a ring, especially since I was so sick and couldn't spend a lot of time hunting. Finding that ring was a thrill, gave me a shot of adrenaline and perked me up a bit.
If I wasn’t sick, I would have hit each of those beaches for 4 - 8 hours each. But all in all, after being sick as a dog and only being able to hunt a total of 5 hours for 2 hunts, I’m happy with the way things turned out. Finding that ring was the turning point, and as soon as I found it, I felt relieved and considered the trip to be a success. It wasn’t gold or huge cheddar, just Sterling, I don’t know if the stones are real or fake, but based on how bad I was feeling during the hunts, I consider finding that ring to be a success. And now that I know exactly what coins and the ring sounded like on my PI, I’m gonna take Franken DuFi back to that same beach once I’m back to being healthy and I’ll spend a LOT more hours on the wet and in shallow water to see what other treasures might be waiting for me to uncover.