Winter storms of 1982-83, CA

[Tom_in_CA]

Anyone here that was hunting the beach erosion during the 1982-83 "El Nino" storms here on the CA coast? Any astounding stories of massive target counts?

I was new to beach storms then. Only had a Garrett that maxed out at perhaps 4" on wet salt Also didn't understand the swells, tides, etc.... But later, the stories that found their way into the club meetings were amazing. A beginner on his first days who stumbled onto an amazing deep cut, and got 6 to 10 gold rings on each of his first few days out. By his 3rd or 4th day out, a friend of mine overheard him complain "ah rats, ONLY 2 gold rings today" (as if he thought 6 to 10 a day was going to be normal, eh? ) Other guys had reports of up to and over 100 silver coins in a day, never leaving an area the size of a living room! One Los Angeles hunter dabbled at or over 100 silver per day for an entire week, each day leaving only because he had to go to work, or batteries dead, etc... Ie.: never a lack of targets... as fast as you could dig.

Did anyone else hunt during those storms here?

 

[nanwate7]

That was in one day! After Easter '83 it was pretty much over. I used to come home at noon because my kids "were so bored". I was working for Disney at the time, and only got out on weekends.

 

[Tom_in_CA]

How many silver coins do you think that was, in that one day? What were other guys finding? Your recollection of having to work, and only being able to hunt weekends reminds me of the situation here: Those of us who had to work often missed out on terrific times. You know...... the slice of time in a 24 hr day, to hunt the optimum tide times (working the tide out as it's lowering) often fell in the work hours of the day. So we'd go out there on Saturday, only to hear some retired guy (or self-employed guy who could call his own hours) refering to the action of the previous few days, which made us sick! Often the guys who could mid-week would be the only one down there, with fabulous cuts all to himself.

In retrospect, I wish I'd quit my job, and spent that 3 or 4 month period detecting for a living.

The action started at about Oct. or Nov. of 1982 here, and you're right, lasted well into the spring. Even reports of action all the way into May in some spots. The reason was..... the erosion had been so severe, that in the ensuing spring buildup, the angle of the beach, and moving scallops were constantly being re-formed by mother nature, as she re-built her beaches. Some guys had figured out to watch where sand was being robbed from, to rebuild the lower spots, hence they continued to get silver into May.

 

[RTP]

The first time I met you was late one evening in March 1982 in the parking lot at Hermosa. You didn't know me from Adam, but you were kind enough to show me a box,(I think it was a treasure chest) full of silver coins in your trunk that you had found. I like you only had weekends to work and living up in the high desert made it a little hard to make it down there. I did manage to find my share of silver and gold including a nice 1895 5D gold piece set in a bezel. Ah the good ole days....Rick