Critterhunter
New member
Hooked up with 3 other friends for a water hunting this morning. Chest/shoulder mounted the GT in the black Minelab bag. A good bit of wave action today so I only risked going up to just below my waste. When it's flatter I'll get a bit above my belly button. My water rig is the stock shaft and the stock 10" Tornado, as on land I use a custom light weight shaft I built and will never take the 12x10 off again unless I can tear myself away from it long enough to strap on the S-5. The 10" Tornado feels like an 8" coil after being so used to the 12x10. I find myself having to pay much more attention to my sweeps (when I could see the coil in shallower water) in order not to miss any gaps in my sweep. Much more effort to insure I don't miss a spot compared to my land hunting with the 12x10. Still haven't tried the 12x10 in water yet so can't comment on it's drag compared to the 10" Tornado.
Anyway, it was fun to get another water hunt it. Unfortunately the spot my friend had been killing rings at over the last few weeks is sanded in again, so we only got a handful of coins and the assorted tabs and blobs of aluminum. Not many targets at all between us compared to most water hunts. They are headed back there tomorrow, but I'm headed for a small freshwater lake with a small beach to give it a shot at daylight. Haven't been to this one for about a year and am curious to see if any competition shows up on a Saturday morning to wade like I'll be doing. We hardly ever seen any water hunters besides our little circle of guys. Maybe 3 or 4 total last year, and they'd have to show up in the morning like us too because you can't hunt these beaches after about 10AM when swimmers start showing up or you'll get kicked out.
It started to rain by no worries as I had the GT inside a closed zip lock bag before it was stuck into the Minelab bag. Extra insurance against a rouge wave splashing my machine. I have a hole poked for the coil cable and one for the headphone plug, and both usually sealed closed via rubber bands, so even if I fell in I bet a few seconds under water wouldn't expose the GT to any moisture.
Without using my meter on my land shaft I must say I do rely on that meter more than I should. Of course it's scoop it all when water or beach hunting, but I was playing a game with myself asking what I thought the tone meant the target would be, and also if I thought it was odd shaped trash or a round object like a coin or round tab. Most of the time I was right, but have to admit at first I had forgotten what the high tone of a coin was versus a tab. Couldn't believe that and realized I was relying on the meter too much to tell me what I was hearing. Not good. Need to make an effort to only look at the meter on land AFTER I decide in my mind what the tone means the conductivity is and such. I was shocked I didn't know a coin tone from a tab pitch at first because I'm so used to glancing at the meter to reference it.
Like learning to type without looking at your hands. They taught us in school that if you look at your fingers you'll never learn to type fast. Had I learned to look at my fingers in order to type I'm sure I never would have been able to type as fast as I do now. Same deal with looking at the meter first when it should be only a last bit of information. Of course I always knew that, it's just that I didn't realize how lazy I'd become at using the meter as my first indication of what a target is.
Anyway, it was fun to get another water hunt it. Unfortunately the spot my friend had been killing rings at over the last few weeks is sanded in again, so we only got a handful of coins and the assorted tabs and blobs of aluminum. Not many targets at all between us compared to most water hunts. They are headed back there tomorrow, but I'm headed for a small freshwater lake with a small beach to give it a shot at daylight. Haven't been to this one for about a year and am curious to see if any competition shows up on a Saturday morning to wade like I'll be doing. We hardly ever seen any water hunters besides our little circle of guys. Maybe 3 or 4 total last year, and they'd have to show up in the morning like us too because you can't hunt these beaches after about 10AM when swimmers start showing up or you'll get kicked out.
It started to rain by no worries as I had the GT inside a closed zip lock bag before it was stuck into the Minelab bag. Extra insurance against a rouge wave splashing my machine. I have a hole poked for the coil cable and one for the headphone plug, and both usually sealed closed via rubber bands, so even if I fell in I bet a few seconds under water wouldn't expose the GT to any moisture.
Without using my meter on my land shaft I must say I do rely on that meter more than I should. Of course it's scoop it all when water or beach hunting, but I was playing a game with myself asking what I thought the tone meant the target would be, and also if I thought it was odd shaped trash or a round object like a coin or round tab. Most of the time I was right, but have to admit at first I had forgotten what the high tone of a coin was versus a tab. Couldn't believe that and realized I was relying on the meter too much to tell me what I was hearing. Not good. Need to make an effort to only look at the meter on land AFTER I decide in my mind what the tone means the conductivity is and such. I was shocked I didn't know a coin tone from a tab pitch at first because I'm so used to glancing at the meter to reference it.
Like learning to type without looking at your hands. They taught us in school that if you look at your fingers you'll never learn to type fast. Had I learned to look at my fingers in order to type I'm sure I never would have been able to type as fast as I do now. Same deal with looking at the meter first when it should be only a last bit of information. Of course I always knew that, it's just that I didn't realize how lazy I'd become at using the meter as my first indication of what a target is.