Hi George,
Well, I will be glad to share my tips with you. First, I had a DFX a few years ago. Nice machine and I made some good finds with it, including a couple of gold rings at the beach. Not the BEST beach machine, better suited for land use. But it'll do if that's what you have. But where I hunt, down at the water's edge at low tide, that puppy will be dead meat if you get splashed or drop it in the water. Then you'll have a $900 walking stick. I have had several non-water machines and hunted with them at the beach many times and was lucky. But I've seen it go the other way and it's not pretty. So be careful...
OK, wet sand or dry sand? I go in the wet 95% and maybe 5% in the dry. Only if the wet isn't producing. Then again, do keep in mind that after a storm, hurricanes or nor-easter's in particular, the stuff can be MUCH higher up on the beach and then all bets are off on the wet sand. But then again, if the beach has been majorly "cut" and you have an 8 foot drop off from the dry sand to the wet, get down there and hunt than virgin territory created when all that sand was washed away. That's where your HUGE finds will be.
During normal hunting conditions, look for cuts, flat spots, washboard sand, areas where there's a lot of crushed shell parts...places where rings and stuff is likely to end up. Pay attention to the "tide lines" and imagine how high the last high tide was, where is the seaweed at, was the surf heavier than usual...this may determine where the goodies will be. The night before last I was hunting at the water's edge at low tide and doing so-so. And when that happens, I will move up from the water a little, into the higher wet sand. Sometimes I do an up-and-down walk from the water to the top of the wet sand, sometimes I do a wide "S" pattern along the wet sand going north or south on the beach. What I'm looking for is the "coin line", so I can see where things settled out during the last tide cycle. If you find the coin line, you follow it. Sometimes it leads to the "gold ring line", though that is rare. But it has happened to me a couple of times. You will often find the targets distributed by weight. So when you start hitting the nickels and quarters then you need to slow down and be listening for that gold.
When do I hunt? My formula is one I've been using for a few years and it's worked very well for me. I do not usually deviate from it. I mostly do beach hunting in the summer and early fall. After that you'll find me hitting the woods, fields, and old schools and houses. But in the summer and storm season, the lure of free gold is too great. So it's also HOT outside and at least HERE, there are like maybe 50,000+ people to contend with out there on the beach. Which REALLY cuts down on my wet sand "huntability". Dry sand too, for those that do that. And since I work and can only normally hunt on the weekends and the occasional mid-week hunt, I go every Friday and Saturday night at low tide. Which may mean every Saturday and Sunday morning, depending on when that is. And I do 2 hours on either side of low tide...because it's during that time period when the tide is at it's lowest and you can get down there where the goodies are. So last weekend the low tide was at 4AM. SO I was out there from 2AM to 6AM. And as soon as I make my way down to the wet sand and start swinging, the targets come and they pretty much don't stop. Mostly coins, of course, but I've been getting gold nearly every hunt this summer. Sometimes more than others. So it's a formula that works for me and for my beaches and conditions. And we have a LOT of beach action here right now...tourists and locals. They are still out there swimming and doing all kinds of stuff even at 3AM. Even families and their kids, hard to believe as it is. It's REAL nice out there that time of night and there's a very decent amount of light from the hotels. And no crowds. It's not for everybody, but it's for me. And the few others I see out there all the time doing it. And then we have the days hunters. Who also do very well. But I prefer to take the "throngs of people variable" out of the mix and up my chances to score. Also, we have a LOT of folks who do this around here. So being the first one to hit a low tide after the crowds have left the beach has it's definite advantages. So when I go out there to the major hot spots on the beach for 4 hours during the night low tide and then the days hunters come out there at the next tide cycle, I've been doing some serious cleaning out there. Of course nobody can hunt the whole beach. And if you miss a target by an inch you might as well miss it by a mile. So there's plenty for everybody.
Where to start looking at a beach I've never been to. Ok, you have to "Case the joint", as they say in the movies. Where do all the people hang out? Where are the most popular swimming spots? The swankiest hotels? The concessions, if any? Are there lifeguards? Where is the "blanket line"? Look at the beach during peak usage time and see where the heaviest concentrations of people are. Hunt there. And don't get me wrong, there ARE good finds in the dry sand. But less of them. And more trash. But people drop a lot of money up there and rings too. Here in Virginia Beach the blanket line tends to be even with or slightly in front of the lifeguard chairs...which go as far down the beach as you can see. So if you're a dry sand hunter, hunt the blanket line. If the entire beach is covered with people and blankets, hunt it all. Where were there any shows, events, festivals...people leave them and go down to the beach and even go swimming. Sometimes they weren't even prepared for that but they do it anyway. Cool by me!
Do people do a lot of swimming at your beaches? Or more laying out? Or both? Try the wet and then try the dry...do an hour or two on each and see what happens. All beaches are different in ways and the same in ways. You have to check it out for your area and see what works.
Get a good long-handled scoop if you're going to work the wet sand and shallow water. Little weenie hand scoops don't cut it. Even in the dry it's nice to not have to bend over EVERY time a dig, dig, dig for a dime. Long-handle scoops help a lot.
That's more than enough for starters. Good luck out there. And if it isn't working for you, consider a week in Virginia Beach anytime through about the end of September and I can pretty much guarantee you will make a few good finds.
Hope that helps!
