WET OR DRY SAND.

[FarmerJ]

Thinking about moving from the park to the beaches. Is the general thought wet sand?? If so low tide and so on.... Guess I could just use some helpful tips the books leave out. Anyone nice enough to help???

 

[therover]

The wet sand has less trash, but it may be barren of targets. Here in NJ, the wet sand has been brutal due to hardly any targets or storms to pull/move some of the sand out to expose the deeper targets. Lots of guys have now taken up hunting in the dry sand because there are targets there. Lots more trash ( and 'bad' trash in the form of pull tabs and foil, which has to be dug of you will miss most gold jewelry).

So....I say start in the wet sand and move in a big S type/zig zag pattern walking parallel to the water, going from the water line to the semi-wet sand. If you start to hit targets, check out the line where the targets are being found. Then start a smaller S pattern on that line. If you hit any deep green quarters, nickels or sinkers, start to grid that area slowly and from different angels. Hitting deep sinkers and quarters means your detector is hitting the deeper, denser targets and will be able to possibly hit a nice gold target.

If you are walking into the wet sand and sinking in 3-4 inches, or pulling out deep pull tabs, get outta there and find a spot in the wet sand with compact sand and where you are at least getting coins.

If there aren't many targets in the wet sand, then move up into the dry.

Not sure what unit you will be using, but the number one rule for wet sand hunting, especially in salt water, is the run with a stable unit until you get to know the conditions. Starting out with too much sensitivity or running at the edge where the unit becomes unstable is a recipe for disaster if you don't know your unit's ability in the conditions.

Lastly...if there isn't much trash in the wet sand, run in all metal and dig everything at first to get an idea what is down there.

 

[tomcatpl]

well said therover

 

[old lobo]

More information would be helpful. What state are you in so we have some idea of the mineral content of your beach. Using each end of the U.S. as an example, Florida has almost no minerals in their sand, but California has magnetic black sand beaches. You could probably use a single frequency detector in the wet in Florida, but it wouldn't work well at all in California. What make and model of detector(s) do you have so we can determine if they will work well in the wet beaches of your area?

 

[Ron Lord]

Old lobo , I take it you don't live in Fla. because if you did you know FLa. beach ( wet sand ) has a lot of Black Sand.On the Gulf side of Fla. there is alot of detector that go's nuts because of our Black Sand and other Minerals in our wet sand.

 

[bcoop]

Salt is a mineral and affects the performance of single frequency machines. They simply can not penetrate wet salty sand like a multi frequency machine. Single frequency machines do fine in the dry sand but in the wet is where they have problems, In wet sand, single frequency machines usually become very erratic and produce a lot of false signals. Adjustment to your sensitivity is a must to achieve any kind of stable operation of the machine to prevent falsing. If a single frequency machine is what you have, adding a DD style coil will help compared to using a concentric coil in wet sand.

Where to hunt? This depends mainly on the time of the year and the beach conditions, but good targets can be anywhere wet or dry sand. During the summer months when beach season is in full swing, hunt the wet sand to the water at low tide. If you have a water machine and wade, then hit the water to chest deep where the crowds congregate. During beach season your mostly depending on finding the fresh drops, if you live close to the beach frequent trips to the beach during vacation season will result in good finds. Hunt hard after organized beach events where there has been more traffic than normal. Spring Break for example.

The dry sand hides coins and jewelry as well but it also holds all the pull tabs, aluminum backed drink seals and every other piece foil and bottle cap you can imagine. If you have the patience to work your way through all that, you will be rewarded.


Generally Speaking. When the beach is in full swing, get there 2 or 3 hours before low tide and hunt the wet sand to the water edge and follow the low tide out. I like to hunt perpendicular to the water by working a pattern from the wet sand down to the water and back up overlapping my swings. When I find a definite line of targets that runs parallel with the water I will turn and zig zag my way up and down the beach following the tide out to low tide. You will usually find a definite line of targets/coins that runs parallel with the water called the coin line. People lose rings and jewelry from playing in the water. Cool water shrinks the fingers and rings fall off, people throw balls and frisbee's and rings fall off. They horseplay and rough house in the water and break bracelets and necklaces and they fall off. The tide of course moves these items around and also buries them deeper in the sand. A machine that will penetrate the salty sand is the most important thing followed by persistency and patience and reading the beach conditions.

Just my opinion from experience and help from others.

Good Luck
BCOOP