Poor Mans Excal Fresh Water Lake Hunting Excursion

[Cal_Cobra]

I returned to a swimming hole that I previously hunted the wet and dry sand with my Fisher F5 finding my first gold ring (the "15 Anos" 14K ring shown below, and a junker), along with an early Mercury dime in the wet sand. This time I wanted to hunt in the water so I rigged up my Sovereign in a Sunray hip mount bag (wrapped in a plastic baggie to keep it safe), mounted up my Sunray S-12, broke out the sand scoop I bought last year, and on went the wader boots and away I went to the swimming hole.

I noticed that my quarter count skyrocketed this trip vs my previous trip of wet/dry sand hunting, but my nickel and dime count plummeted, while my penny count stayed close to the same (actually may have been higher this trip, because I quit digging zinc signals, maybe that's a mistake if jewelery could possibly hit where zinc pennies hit ??).

Am I correct in thinking that dimes and nickels are more prone to get washed ashore vs heavier quarters staying in water due to their weight ? Or is it just coincidence ?

Overall I think I did OK. Two sterling silver rings, one with green turquoise (I think), the other with hematites, a large 12K gold ear ring that I thought was another ring when I saw it in the scoop and an odd ring that was silver-plated copper (silver is mostly worn off now), with a blue enamel exterior (this was found in the wet sand near the waterline). It has a mark, but can't really tell what it is.

14K ring from first trip hunting just the wet and dry sand with the Fisher F5 (both were found in the wet sand):

The beautiful lake:

All the goods minus a pocket full of lead fishing weights (man those weights sound sweet when they hit - LOL!! and the usual trash:

Also found a 1941 wheat cent:

HH,
Brian

 

[king-ghidorah]

I returned to a swimming hole that I previously hunted the wet and dry sand with my Fisher F5 finding my first gold ring (the "15 Anos" 14K ring shown below, and a junker), along with an early Mercury dime in the wet sand. This time I wanted to hunt in the water so I rigged up my Sovereign in a Sunray hip mount bag (wrapped in a plastic baggie to keep it safe), mounted up my Sunray S-12, broke out the sand scoop I bought last year, and on went the wader boots and away I went to the swimming hole.

I noticed that my quarter count skyrocketed this trip vs my previous trip of wet/dry sand hunting, but my nickel and dime count plummeted, while my penny count stayed close to the same (actually may have been higher this trip, because I quit digging zinc signals, maybe that's a mistake if jewelery could possibly hit where zinc pennies hit ??).

Am I correct in thinking that dimes and nickels are more prone to get washed ashore vs heavier quarters staying in water due to their weight ? Or is it just coincidence ?

Overall I think I did OK. Two sterling silver rings, one with green turquoise (I think), the other with hematites, a large 12K gold ear ring that I thought was another ring when I saw it in the scoop and an odd ring that was silver-plated copper (silver is mostly worn off now), with a blue enamel exterior (this was found in the wet sand near the waterline). It has a mark, but can't really tell what it is.

[
HH,
Brian

I wanted to send you this in a PM but your box is full

How far up did you go with your waders with the GT? I was seriously contemplating using the GT instead of the Excalibur as it is the same machine except the Excalibur is waterproofed and the GT has Ground TRAC which the Excal does not. What made it so tempting is that it can be hip/chest mounted thus preventing any water from damaging it. I have my mind made up to get the Excal1K BUT the GT keeps taunting me. Save $400,Save $400,Save $400 keeps going through my mind AND with that extra $4000 I could buy a couple 15x12 SEF coils at $190 each, one for my SE and the other for the GT. The GT being my beach machine. I;d mostly work the low tide at the beach. Then another $200 for a heavy duty stainless steel beach scoop. I do not plan on going far out into the water. Someone already sent me specs on outfitting the GT with a Pelican case and cable clams to basically waterproof it, probably cost me $30 total to do the job. This is what he sent me in a PM,

"the cable clam are .063" and 083" med and small..http://www.reddenmarine.com/site/new-detail.cfm?id=BSS1002 and the Pelican box it # 1150. .http://www.all-pelican-cases-4-less.com/detail_pelican_1150.html i used the 2 holes on the lid to fasten it to my Army belt..with big SS key split rings...just remember ,once you put the cable's through the Cable Clams....the head phones and coil stay with the box so you would need another set if you wanted to use it without the box..its a bit bulky but it works.....

The best beach guys on here tell me that the wet sand and working the low tide is where the action is and I have seen their finds to make me a believer. Why get a waterproof machine when basically if you are doing that why not get the GT instead?

Have you worked that field that was before that lake in the picture?

 

[Cal_Cobra]

I returned to a swimming hole that I previously hunted the wet and dry sand with my Fisher F5 finding my first gold ring (the "15 Anos" 14K ring shown below, and a junker), along with an early Mercury dime in the wet sand. This time I wanted to hunt in the water so I rigged up my Sovereign in a Sunray hip mount bag (wrapped in a plastic baggie to keep it safe), mounted up my Sunray S-12, broke out the sand scoop I bought last year, and on went the wader boots and away I went to the swimming hole.

I noticed that my quarter count skyrocketed this trip vs my previous trip of wet/dry sand hunting, but my nickel and dime count plummeted, while my penny count stayed close to the same (actually may have been higher this trip, because I quit digging zinc signals, maybe that's a mistake if jewelery could possibly hit where zinc pennies hit ??).

Am I correct in thinking that dimes and nickels are more prone to get washed ashore vs heavier quarters staying in water due to their weight ? Or is it just coincidence ?

Overall I think I did OK. Two sterling silver rings, one with green turquoise (I think), the other with hematites, a large 12K gold ear ring that I thought was another ring when I saw it in the scoop and an odd ring that was silver-plated copper (silver is mostly worn off now), with a blue enamel exterior (this was found in the wet sand near the waterline). It has a mark, but can't really tell what it is.

[
HH,
Brian

I wanted to send you this in a PM but your box is full

How far up did you go with your waders with the GT? I was seriously contemplating using the GT instead of the Excalibur as it is the same machine except the Excalibur is waterproofed and the GT has Ground TRAC which the Excal does not. What made it so tempting is that it can be hip/chest mounted thus preventing any water from damaging it. I have my mind made up to get the Excal1K BUT the GT keeps taunting me. Save $400,Save $400,Save $400 keeps going through my mind AND with that extra $4000 I could buy a couple 15x12 SEF coils at $190 each, one for my SE and the other for the GT. The GT being my beach machine. I;d mostly work the low tide at the beach. Then another $200 for a heavy duty stainless steel beach scoop. I do not plan on going far out into the water. Someone already sent me specs on outfitting the GT with a Pelican case and cable clams to basically waterproof it, probably cost me $30 total to do the job. This is what he sent me in a PM,

"the cable clam are .063" and 083" med and small..http://www.reddenmarine.com/site/new-detail.cfm?id=BSS1002 and the Pelican box it # 1150. .http://www.all-pelican-cases-4-less.com/detail_pelican_1150.html i used the 2 holes on the lid to fasten it to my Army belt..with big SS key split rings...just remember ,once you put the cable's through the Cable Clams....the head phones and coil stay with the box so you would need another set if you wanted to use it without the box..its a bit bulky but it works.....

The best beach guys on here tell me that the wet sand and working the low tide is where the action is and I have seen their finds to make me a believer. Why get a waterproof machine when basically if you are doing that why not get the GT instead?

Have you worked that field that was before that lake in the picture?

I just have wading boots, which go up to just below my knees. Actually if the lake wasn't so nasty right now (their having a problem with dead carp, thousands of them rotting and decaying on the waters edge), I'd just wade out in pants or shorts, which I may do on my next hunt as I suspect there's better stuff further out in this swimming hole area (there's a sand bar a bit further out, I've always heard stuff gets trapped in sand bars ????).

That field before the lake, is up on the side of the mountain I shot the photo from (photo looks misleading).

I think I've seen that before on putting the Sov into the Pelican box. It's a good idea, but overkill for what I'm doing. I need to rig up a tether to hold the pole from going in the drink, as it's a PITA to hold the pole while digging and such (I have the Sunray digital meter and the junction box for the Sunray probe on the pole, neither is waterproof, so I should bag them too I suppose, or move the meter to the hip mount bag).

The swimming hole I was hitting was pretty easy digging, mostly small rocks, sand and clay. Another place I hit was full of LARGE rocks, which made it really difficult to dig. I haven't tried any other scoops, I got this one on fleabay, and it seems sturdy:

Honestly I think for shallow water hunting a hand scoop like this would probably be fine, as I found myself bending down using my hands to hold the scoop basket to dig most of the time anyhow:

Seems to me the long handled scoops are better suited for wet and dry sand hunting, not so much for digging out in the water with small rocks/sand/clay/mud....but I could be wrong

Now I need to figure out how to dial the machine and my ears into the deeper stuff, I know it's there, this lakes been a recreational area since the 1860's and I do not believe many people are water hunting it from what I can tell.

HH,
Brian