CZ-21 Fresh water settings and techniques

[dc426]

Went to a local lake this moring to see how the cz21 would do in fresh water. This is a lake with a consideralable amount of trash in it. I started out on 5 and ended using 3 on the discrimination. Then after a while I would be on 3 and hit a target and turn up the disc. to see where it would disappear. Not sure if this is a good method or not. I would like to here from others lake hunting to see what setting and tech. your using.
TIA
DC

 

[pasttom]

If it works for you it works for you. That is a standard technique and a very smart thing to have figured out. If you can use it to determine what to dig and what to walk over you won the game (except for the recovery part...). The CZ-21 is locked in salt mode (optimized for sea salt/shore), but works anywhere. Its a great unit that has been used to find a ton of great targets.
Tom

 

[scubadetector]

I also have places with tons of trash. One lake especially I could sit in ONE spot and get target after target. I found coins, rings, and lots of junk in areas smaller than my 10" coil. The KEY is to listen to the beeps. IF you get a lot of different tones in one spot DIG EVERYTHING. You will get nails, pulltabs, bobby pins, and also good stuff in a lot of small beaches but the items are all together. When I first started hunting this place, my detector wouldn't shut up!! I just sat on the bottom and cleaned up. Same with a spot I fould last year. 34 silver rings and coins and 4 gold. I just dug every signal, got rid of a lot of trash and of course a lot of good stuff!

I hunt fresh water in Michigan exclusively. Been to Florida for 3 weeks 3 years ago. Hope this helps.

 

[dc426]

Thanks, I'm hoping that CZ21 users will let me know what settings they use in fresh water. Auto tune? or zero?

 

[cubfan64]

Any place with a lot of trash is hard to detect with a CZ21 - even if you have the smaller 8" coil. It doesn't really matter whether it's fresh water or salt water - trash is trash.

The PLUS to hunting a spot like that if other folks have been there detecting, they've most likely given up - you'll be able to tell fairly quickly after a couple hunts if that's the case or not. The negative of course is like what Scuba said, to really pull out the good stuff means you're going to have to pretty much dig most everything for awhile - just get out there and start cleaning it out. If you have a floating sifter, that would speed things up - just scoop and dump, rinse and repeat over and over. It'll be frustrating at times and you'll get tired, but it's the best way to get the gold out of there.

You could always set your descrimination high like you are and just start cherry picking the high tones - then gradually reduce it. If you do that and start pulling out lots of clad or older coins, it's a good sign that it hasn't been hunted much.

One quick thing I noticed about freshwater lakes that have lots of trash - put a finer screen in the bottom of your scoop so you can catch the little crap like lead fishing sinkers and stuff that size or you'll go nuts trying to chase those things around as you scoop. The key to really trashy water areas is to get stuff pulled up as quickly as you can. Over time it'll reward you.

Just one last word of advice for CZ20/21 users. I've gotten to the point where I often hunt in autotune (all metal) mode and switch to 0 Descrimination when I get a signal to see if it's iron or not (This probably isn't going to work for you in a really trashy spot right away cause you'll get so many signals), I can tell you that more than a few times though when I get a signal in all metal that sounds weak and deep, I'll dig it no matter whether it sounds off as iron or not - I've pulled a good share of gold and even silver out that way - you'll be surprised how often something deep will give off an iron tone until you take out a scoop or two and check it again - seems as though deep targets are not always identified correctly - digging in the sand is easier than land, so it's not that much effort to dig those signals.

have fun

 

[scubadetector]

Thanks, I'm hoping that CZ21 users will let me know what settings they use in fresh water. Auto tune? or zero?

I did in my heading, I sometimes use 1 but most the time its on 0.

 

[ElginTim]

When I'm in water my settings are site-dependent. Hard rock bottom, sandy bottom, gravel or mud and the history of likely targets that I'm expecting all determine how I'm running the numbers. Modern sites I will disc out iron and round tabs. Going for the clad and obvious bling. These sites are usually softer bottom so it'd be easier to dig it all but time is a limiting factor in coverage as well.

The rocky bottoms where old crossings are, you gotta check everything out, coins on their sides between or under large rocks can read almost anywhere and since they are often slipped into those cracks and crannies with all manner of junk, then if you get a hit and can move that rock, do so. Time can't be as big a factor when you're out for the old good stuff.