Water Hunting

[scubadetector]

People have asked me how I carry everything around. I decided to take pictures of my stuff. The first one is my truck loaded for fun.

This is my float tube and flag that I put anchors on and bottles and other stuff in. Also my BC which has a huge pocket on each side.

This picture is one of the goodie bags I put all my small finds in, including rings , coins, pull-tabs, sinkers and lures.

The last pictures are of 5 gallon buckets I put my trash in when I get home. Brass and copper in one and the rest in the other. These are from this weekend.

I have 4 of the mesh bags. After a dive I just take one off and use another. I don't bother looking at my finds till I get home. Don't want to waste daylight or dive time. I can last 3 hours on one tank and will soon use 3 tanks a day. I guess you can say I am persistent and love the peace and quiet and the uncertainty of the next beep. Thanks for looking. I hope this answers peoples questions.

 

[OldBeechnut]

Cool setup, and treasure hauler!

 

[seeker41]

very cool! i gotta start diving!

 

[Habanero]

Nice! I want to get into this one of these days but for now I am restricted to the wading. I am hoping to have some scuba lessons and become certified, maybe a birthday or Christmas gift idea for my wife and to do for each other. Do you mainly go into lakes and rivers? How do you see down there? A lot of our lakes are what I consider murky looking unless I drive further to a limestone lake where there is better visibility. What shoes do you wear for hunting? I have a ton of questions but will let you have those first! I can't imagine being in the water for a whole tank's worth of air, much less three! I love the water too, but I bet you look like a human raisin when you get out!

 

[Hank68]

You deserve everything you find! That's a ton of gear!

 

[scubadetector]

I mainly hit lakes. There is one river a mile from my house I dive but that is only to find old bottles and 2 pound fishing sinkers and tons of lures. This river is the most dangerous waterway in the whole USA for diving. The current takes you 8 - 12 miles per hour! CRAZY dives. It is also the only place in the USA where you DON'T need a dive flag. You go in along the seawall and you BETTER get out along the seawall. I have seen divers surface in the middle in trouble. ABSOLUTELY INSANE. This river is a mile from my house. Here is a picture of the river, me in the river just starting a dive and a picture of the two pound sinkers that get me a dollar a piece. This is the ST. Clair River on the other side of the bridge is Lake Huron.

Its an absolute trip when one of these freighters go over you. ALL you hear are the engines and you can't see it. You hold onto something on the bottom and wait till it passes. can't look up or back, your mask would rip off your face.

If you see in the picture, I don't wear fins 99% of the time. I lay near the bottom and swig my detector. I wear a wetsuit and dive booties with rubber soles. Fins stir up the silt in lakes. Most the lakes I dive in I have at least 5' of visibality. Until I stir up the bottom with my detector. I live with it. I know exactly where the end of my coil is and can wave the silt away with both hands to see the target. In muck its a different story. I take handfuls of muck and wave them in front of the coil. When I have the target I put the whole handful in a mesh bag, hold the top shut and swish it in the water. Pull out my target and put it in another bag. Sometimes I move so to find clear water to go back to detecting. That's why I can hit the same lakes over and over and over and even the same spots and still find treasures.

I have even dove lakes with zero visibility. With practice you know where your coil is and you can find a ton of lost items because nobody will touch them.

The ONLY place I dig is in muck and I do it VERY carefully. I don't wear gloves and yes I have been sliced and diced because of it. But in sand you just wave your hand above the target and it digs a great hole. I LOVE to see the outline of a ring when it first appears. Great incentive. Most ALL the targets are ion top of hard packed sand or clay after you wave the top 3 - 8 inches of loose stuff off. In Lake Huron and Lake St. Clair sometimes you have to dig in the clay. I use my dive knife.


One last thing. IF your going to take up diving in inland lakes the BIGGER the flag and float the better. in 5' of water and shallower you do NOT want to be propeller bait. A LOT of boater have NO idea what the flag is anyway. The tube I pull around is GREAT for boat anchors, bottles, propellers and any big pieces of trash you want to stuff in it. I take out ALL the small trash and leave some of the cans on top. I don't leave a single pull tab or anything. I hit the same spots over and over and I DON'T EVER want to waste any air digging ANYTHING I have ever found before. Every target I hit is for sure something that I didn't put my coil over before. I have wader friend's that toss things back. To me that's absolutely NUTS. Why would anybody want to dig a pull tab, shotgun shell bottom or ANYTHING more than once? Scooping is hard to begin with.

Anyway, hope this helps. And remember, Don't bother trying this in Michigan, I have it all. Only 11 thousand inland lakes here and there isn't any extra for other detectorists.

I actually don't look like a prune when I get out, LOL I think I am used to the water.

 

[worthy]

what a post!!! fantastic!

 

[Jason in Enid]

Holy cow, what river is that?! That's the clearest water I've ever seen in a river.

That looks like a whole lot of fun in the back of your vehicle. I'd say a whole weekend of shallow fun.

Please be very careful with those grenade detonators, they are still live and can be dangerous.

 

[Sailorman]

Soooo, a lot of grenade fishing up your way???

I can tell you that dive flags are about as effective in the south as they are up your way. Especially with low IQ, alcohol impaired high horse power boat operators!

 

[scubadetector]

I was cracking up when I found them and yes they were still alive. Anybody could have made homemade gernades with them easily. It is the St. Clair River the 1200 foot boats could care less about a dive flag! (like they would move out of the way anyway!!)

 

[Habanero]

That is a good looking river! Looks a lot cleaner than what we have around here for sure. I can't imagine those monstrosities passing above me like that, what is there to hang onto down there anyway? Thanks for the tips as well, I think I would feel confident detecting is less than ideal visibility waters when/if I get to that point.

 

[Micheal_R]

I find myself using the scooter more than the detector.Have you ever tried one of them? I use a torpedo 2500, get to my chosen site, and then put the scoot on blast... in other words, I turn it around and blast the mud, sand, etc away. If you so do this, and do it carefully, all the bottom silt is gone and the goodies left behind.

I still use the detector in places, but the scoot takes the mud away beautifully

Cheers

Micheal

 

[scubadetector]

Lots of stuff on the bottom of that river to latch onto, cables, beams , rocks, trees. trash from the 1700's till now. There is a ship that sank right there in 1890 and parts of other ships that sank.

If I even thought about blowing silt and sand away from my spots EVEN though Its absolutely tempting. I would have WAY too many problems with land owners, authorities and others, and I already draw more attention than I want sometimes. Glad you can do it but its not for me.

 

[Micheal_R]

Up here, the land owners property ends at the waterline; at least in 99% of the cases i does... I am fortunate in that I do own my river bed... but that is an exception.

I do not see why the authorities would have a problem... any disturbance that you make would be nothing compared to a current or storm..

I can see the not wanting to draw attention to yourself though...I keep as low a profile as possible too..... bu you are underwater... so the profile would naturally be low..... Only when you go in or come out of the water are you noticeable..

I have been detecting and diving for a few decades and using the scoot for maybe 6 years.... I have never been hassled or even questioned... not even once.

May be different in your neck of the woods though

Fair winds

Micheal

 

[scubadetector]

Totally different here. in FACT a LOT of people that own land on inland lakes OWN the bottom in a pie shaped piece out to the center of the lake. In some places I am trespassing. They don't own the surface so you can boat on it or do anything legal you want BUT technically they own the bottom where I am hunting. There are also a TON of private association parks in these lakes. Nobody complains about me in almost all of them. ONE snobby millionaires park has called the police at least 8 different times.

I dive find things and come up and talk to people on their docks a lot. I have even given away boat anchors to some of them. A LOT of VERY friendly people who see I am cleaning all the trash out of the lake and know I find a coin or two. BUT there are some that think they own the whole lake and have an attitude as such. I have dealt with the police MANY MANY times in one county especially. Lots of lakes and tons of money in that county. LOL I know a police lieutenant personally!! We just talked last week in fact. His officers don't want to be bothered by the rich snobs and I don't want to be harassed either.

I would give you an idea of where I hunt and find most my gold and civil war things but the lurkers on here that are close to me would invade my spots. BUT I do have WRITTEN permission from some VERY rich people to be on the lakes I dive in now. One rich jerk even called the person that gave me permission trying to get me out of the lake cause he saw where I went in. The lady that gave me the permission stood up for me and that was that. She is a VERY sweet lady and I went and thanked her.

OHH and on a technicality. They have to actually SEE you touch the bottom in order to get you for trespassing. I was a cop for 9 years and I am proud of my service. I refuse to be pushed around by rich snobs or cops that think they know the law. I don't hurt anybody or anything down there and will return anything that people say they lost.

Some here will think I am ok, others won't and you all need to make your own judgements. I give back ALL that I can, especially ID bracelets and class rings. Others here feel its finders keepers. I don't judge those without the same values as I have AND I DON"T expect a discussion if I am right or wrong in my decisions on where to hunt.

 

[Micheal_R]

I live in British Columbia... so my getting out your way would never be a problem. Too far for me to travel.

Pity about some people thinking and acting like jerks.... a whole different mindset up here. I go to lakes and no one even bothers me or cares. The only time I have had anyone say anything to me is to ask either what have I found or to ask did I find [specify item here] of theirs.

I agree that mud bottoms are pretty much the best though.. Once an item goes into the mud, people generally consider it gone. That is where the scoot comes in handy... blows that top layer away... Only problem is that when you use the scoot, you need a LOT of weight to hold you down

Cheers

Micheal

 

[Habanero]

Totally different here. in FACT a LOT of people that own land on inland lakes OWN the bottom in a pie shaped piece out to the center of the lake. In some places I am trespassing. They don't own the surface so you can boat on it or do anything legal you want BUT technically they own the bottom where I am hunting. There are also a TON of private association parks in these lakes. Nobody complains about me in almost all of them. ONE snobby millionaires park has called the police at least 8 different times.

I dive find things and come up and talk to people on their docks a lot. I have even given away boat anchors to some of them. A LOT of VERY friendly people who see I am cleaning all the trash out of the lake and know I find a coin or two. BUT there are some that think they own the whole lake and have an attitude as such. I have dealt with the police MANY MANY times in one county especially. Lots of lakes and tons of money in that county. LOL I know a police lieutenant personally!! We just talked last week in fact. His officers don't want to be bothered by the rich snobs and I don't want to be harassed either.

I would give you an idea of where I hunt and find most my gold and civil war things but the lurkers on here that are close to me would invade my spots. BUT I do have WRITTEN permission from some VERY rich people to be on the lakes I dive in now. One rich jerk even called the person that gave me permission trying to get me out of the lake cause he saw where I went in. The lady that gave me the permission stood up for me and that was that. She is a VERY sweet lady and I went and thanked her.

OHH and on a technicality. They have to actually SEE you touch the bottom in order to get you for trespassing. I was a cop for 9 years and I am proud of my service. I refuse to be pushed around by rich snobs or cops that think they know the law. I don't hurt anybody or anything down there and will return anything that people say they lost.

Some here will think I am ok, others won't and you all need to make your own judgements. I give back ALL that I can, especially ID bracelets and class rings. Others here feel its finders keepers. I don't judge those without the same values as I have AND I DON"T expect a discussion if I am right or wrong in my decisions on where to hunt.

That is very interesting about land owners owning land under the water as such that you mention in your areas. If it's like that here, then I have never heard about it; I think land/water ownership stops at the bank, bulk head or dock/pier. How would they even know if you did touch bottom or detect on "their" land anyway unless they were diving as well or it was shallow enough to see you do it. I'm not promoting trespassing, but c'mon, owning the land under the water and trying to enforce it for the occasional diver seems silly on their part and you are not deserving of a hard time. I agree about the rich snobs or kill joy type of peopl altogether; some are not all bad but others think they own it all and almost seem to take pleasure in spoiling the recreation of others. Speaking of where and how you hunt; I'm not asking for your hunting spots or any information you don't want to divulge and cannot ever see myself in your neck of the woods but perhaps you can pm me tips on how and where to hunt lakes and other bodies of water. I don't have a clue unless I'm wading and then I'm gonna head for where the swimmers are. How do you determine where to hunt in a lake on a dive? The scoot that Michael mentioned seems like a lot of fun too!

 

[scubadetector]

Here is the VERY best tip I can give you. ANYWHERE along a shoreline. You NEVER know where a swimming hole was in the early 1900's and you quite possibly will stumble upon a site nobody goes to anymore. I have a LOT of area with silence. BUT I have stumbled upon FANTASTIC areas of coins and rings after going through the silence. One of my techniques is to hunt fast and not overlap my swings until I start hitting targets then I slow to a crawl. HOWEVER people didn't swim with coins MOST the time and you can hit a gold ring in the middle of NOWHERE like I did the last 400.00 one I found. It was all by its lonesome except for a few sinkers and other junk.

Before they had air conditioners and TV's EVERYONE swam. And BEFORE they had TONS of lawsuits, lots of people had floating rafts and dive platforms in inland lakes. Stumble upon old rusted 55 gallon drums and you will probably find a silver mine at the least. LOL also a LOT of pull tabs and bottle tops for kids that swam out there with drinks and change. In a state park here I hit where there were 3 sunk 55 gallon drums and found 18 silver coins and 6 buffalo in one dive. And for you lurkers it was Dodge 4 State park on Cass Lake in Pontiac. I have pulled over 10 grand out of that lake.

As a wader you will hit a lot of shoreline before you find spots where people congregated. BUT as I said, they swam everywhere. All you need is a gold ring or two from the middle of nowhere to help pay for your adventures. I just sent in 11 gold rings from the end of last month till last week and it was 1812.00 in cash for me. I have over 300.00 in silver already also.

Just go out and HAVE FUN and relax. Don't expect gold every time you go out BUT do expect to find new places to play and all kinds of interesting finds. You NEVER know what was dropped in the water and never recovered. Plenty of times I have come home with less than a dollar in change and spent 30.00 in gas. But at the end of the year I have ALWAYS come out ahead.

Yes that scooter would be a BLAST!! LOL But all I can see here in Michigan is absolute TROUBLE!! Some of these lakes are super clear and if the boaters all the sudden see dirt clouds, LOL well lets say I don't want to chance it!! And the lake I am diving in now has not one but TWO Rolex watches in it. One is a Presidential worth 85 grand. Will I stumble upon it? Maybe one year.

I hope this helps. Some of the corners in lakes are full of muck from rotting leaves and branches and things. I do stay away from them.

 

[Habanero]

Thanks for the tips Scuba, I appreciate any sage advice you or others can pass along to a novice water hunter. I'll just be a shore hunter for awhile and still do some land hunting, but I already feel a desire to dive. I wish our lakes were that old; several of them that come to mind were man made lakes only dating back to the late 60's, 70's and 80's. Any of them have the potential to hold jewelry of course, but that rich history from hundreds of years past is just not there in many of these lakes. I'm already digging for history on many of them that are not too far away of a drive to determine which were here before we were and those that were man made and how old they may be. Even the man made lakes could hold some goodies because many of them dry land at one point that had homes, parks, woods, fields and farms at one point. The buildings of course are gone, but you just have to see the tips of tree branches and stumps sticking out of the water to remind you that there is a forest beneath the water.

 

[Micheal_R]

Again, and it is probably just me, I cannot see why there would be a problem with creating clouds of silt... let's face it, you are not introducing anything deleterious to the environment of the lake... all you are doing is redistributing the mus. And when I roil the bottom, you would not believe the number of fish that 'show up' for a meal.... sometimes there are so many that even seeing the bottom can be difficult.

Anyway.... you might at least want to ask what the regs are on that...... and I still have problems with someone thinking that they 'own' the bottom.... But that might be a Canuck regulation. Not certain how it works down south

Anyway... sounds like you have a great locale... keep at it.

I have used the scoot and found one Rolex [gold]... not mine to keep though. I was hired to find it. There was about 4 to 5 feet of mud... took a while to blast that away

Cheers.... and good hunting

Micheal