Time to Look for a New Beach?

[harvdog42]

Hello All,

I maybe have a bad habit of searching the same beach. I know it so well. My ratio this weekend was 3 to 1. Three silver to one gold. The gold is a pretty little 10K lady's ring.

The twist is that although targets were plentiful this weekend, including a lot of sinkers and other heavy items, very little of the good stuff came out. The four "rings" at the top of the photo are copper "rings" that were planted by me two years ago. I threw them out in the surf about as far as could a couple summers ago. I found all four of the copper "rings" today.

What does that mean? Should I concentrate on getting to know another beach? Is the beach depleted? Or is my detecting style just not conducive to finding the heavy gold.

Harvdog

 

[jimmy jam]

Almost all are beaches are sanded in after the storms, so to find three rings now is great. nice finds. most of us are not even finding copper rings.

 

[tvr]

Turning up more of the copper seeding, I'd think, means that heavy metals are being pushed in some and not taken deeper to be never recovered. Four rings plus the 4 seeded copper rings in three days, appears to me to be some good results. I suspect a lot more fishing sinkers are lost than rings.
tvr

 

[briley59]

I would agree and from everything I read they are never completely drained only too deep to find at the time. It has been really sanded in here and it has slowed to a crawl so maybe shifting sand will bring new targets soon.

 

[EZrider]

One overlooked aspect of beach hunting. Is the beach your hunting a tourist beach or a local one? Locals know better than to ware jewelry to the beach. And if they do its not the good stuff.

 

[bdahunter]

I have a hotel beach that I have pounded to death and it does need some time to replenish with loot because it sees few bathers. The loot that does go in is top drawer so it is worth waiting to visit in the future, this is the beach where I had the run in with the spotted eel. You really have to factor in how quickly a beach can be recharged before you give up on this beach for a while, I have a few beaches that see a lot of tourist traffic, those beaches never go quiet.
Give it some time, watch the wind and surf reports; then when you think it has had a chance to get stirred up a bit, pay it another visit.

Cheers,

BDA

PS I think the copper ring seeding was a great idea, curious to get your thoughts on how that went and what you have deduced about target movements.

 

[harvdog42]

You've got a good point. The beach during the off season is used mostly by locals for surfing and boogie boarding. During the summer the beach gets used quite a bit by tourists although there a no four or five star hotels anywhere near it. The photo shows that although the beach gets populated during the summer months, it does not get packed.

The beach has quite a long history going back to the early 1900's but I think that history is buried beyond anything but a large backhoe. It is a rare occurance to turn up a silver coin on that beach.

The main reason I keep going back is because it is close to where I live so if it sanded in, I haven't lost much. Even the most packed beaches such as Venice Beach, CA can get sanded in to the point where the detecting becomes pitiful. I've been detecting on Venice beach when conditions were ideal. In one little area you could get three or four coins in every scoop. But those conditions rapidly deteriorated.

But this last weekend detecting my little beach got me to wondering. Conditions were pretty good for wet sand detecting and a lot of heavier targets such as keys, sinkers, bolts came out along with the four copper rings I threw out in the surf a few years ago...but very little gold. Probably because there is very little there.

There is a cove about a half hours drive north that I've been thinking about detecting for quite a few years but have just never done it. It is one of those coves that attracts a lot of nudists because of it's seclusion. There is no parking near the cove so anybody that goes there has to hike about 1/3 mile. It's been my experience in detecting that most "hare brained" ideas usually don't turn out nearly as well as you thought they might. That's one reason I've not gone yet.

Somebody mentioned a successful cove hunt on this forum a while back and that got me to thinking again. I'd be interested in hearing from anybody that has experience hunting coves.

Harvdog

 

[Furious T]

The wonderful thing about beaches is that they are forever changing, even day by day, tide by tide. Unfortunately I dont live anywhere near a beach, but I love detecting on beaches and in water whenever I can. I keep visiting the same old same old, and my finds vary in type and quantity every time I visit. It doesn't help my cause that these beaches are pounded by locals, but it doesn't stop me finding stuff, particularly if I am lucky enough to be there shortly after a washout. I'm sure you've had the same or similar experiences. It's always good to try new places too, so the cove idea may not be as hare-brained as it might first seem.

 

[bdahunter]

The hotel beach that I pounded to death was a 1 minute walk down a jungle path from my cottage, so I hunted it for a similar reason that you hunted your 'regular' beach - it was easy. Unfortunately, all good things come to an end and I hunted out that beach. I have since moved and after taking last year off I am hunting Horseshoe Bay because (a) it is easy because it is only 10 minutes away and (b) it is the most frequented beach in Bermuda. Now that I am hunting again, I am making a point of travelling further afield to treasurehunt, it keeps the hunt fresh and adds variety to my finds - it is also more challenging to change the venue from time to time.
Go hunt that nude beach and remember to wear lots of sunscreen on those delicate parts.

Cheers,

BDA

 

[oldcarbuilder]

I have not started metal detecting yet. However I can tell you that from my experience as a diver that the best time to go looking in the surf and most likely at your beach would be right after a storm. It moves a lot of sand in a hurry and changes the bottom from what it was the day before, May God Bless you and Yours and may your scoop always contain riches.

Norman

 

[briley59]

The hotel beach that I pounded to death was a 1 minute walk down a jungle path from my cottage, so I hunted it for a similar reason that you hunted your 'regular' beach - it was easy. Unfortunately, all good things come to an end and I hunted out that beach. I have since moved and after taking last year off I am hunting Horseshoe Bay because (a) it is easy because it is only 10 minutes away and (b) it is the most frequented beach in Bermuda. Now that I am hunting again, I am making a point of travelling further afield to treasurehunt, it keeps the hunt fresh and adds variety to my finds - it is also more challenging to change the venue from time to time.
Go hunt that nude beach and remember to wear lots of sunscreen on those delicate parts. Bda my wife accuses me of frequenting the one in Miami as the reason I like to go there. I could probably enjoy it but would have the same problem as with strip joints A LOT OF CANDY YOU CANNOT BUY (This you can Probaly do) OR KEEP. I have one I have had for thirty one years and would not trade for another but to take on another %&$# NO! LIfe must be rough to have to Loot in Bermuda> Such a hard life I am Sure. One I probably could get use to myself. I myself live two miles from the beach and yes I frequent this one to death But the difference here is drive either direction and nothing but new area. I am not sure having too much is as bad as not enough. You want to spend every day in a different area and never learn any of them like I am finding you should know your local.

Cheers,

BDA

 

[tvr]

Welcome aboard here oldcarbuilder!

Nice picture of the beach Harvdog. Pretty setting.

 

[Goldak]

Hey Harvdog, I am one of those people who keep going to the same beach too! If I have had luck somewhere, I don't want to take a chance wasting precious detecting time trying someplace new even though the new place could be better. The first time I went to this beach (in December) I found a gold ring and 4 more since then so it's hard to try something unknown. There is free parking there, it seems like a safe area, I don't usually see a ton of detectors there and it's the closest beach to me.
When I was young and a novice detectorist, I went to some cove with 3 other hunters (all older men). There was small cut by which we were finding coins here and there. As the evening came and the tide started going out we all started finding rings by the water. That evening we found 40 rings between us. I had 11 rings, 4 of which were heavy gold. Being young and naive, I don't remember what cove it was. I can remember some details of how it looked and have spent a lot of time on Google Earth and Bing Maps looking for it but haven't found it yet. Yes, coves can be great! HH!

 

[harvdog42]

Goldak that sounds encouraging. Your story about being a novice detector hunting the cove reminds me of an experience I had as a novice. I was detecting a beach in Long Beach, Ca, not knowing really what I was doing. I had a Fisher 1235 at the time. It was kind of dark when I started finding many coins near the waters edge. I couldn't really make out what they where because of the darkness. When I got home about half the coins were silver coins, I had a couple of standing liberty halves mixed in with the other stuff and a lot of buffalo nickels.

In my ignorance I thought that was ordinary. I told the person who I bought the detector from about what I had found and showed her exactly where I had found them. She and her friend had a great summer detecting that spot. The sand has since built up tremendously there for some reason and there is nothing to be found there anymore. If only I knew then what I know now.

Harvdog

 

[Shuffler]

ya know.......detectin is detectin and swinging over a worked out beach is way better than staying home staring out the window............Gene