Metal detecting Tips for Shallow Water Hunting by Capt. Daniel Berg

The complete guide to metal detectors, tricks of the trade, and equipment for shallow water hunting with a metal detector.

Scuba Equipment Shipwrecks Wreck Valley Charter Boat Swimsuits/Bikinis

Shallow Water Hunting Tips

Shallow water detecting

Water hunting is one of the most rewarding ways to metal detect. Remember that when bathers sit on the beach and lather themselves with sun screen they then jump into the water to cool down. Once in the water their fingers shrink and rings just slide off. With this in mind we know that there is more jewelry in the water than on the dry beach. Fortunately for water hunters there is also less junk to dig in the water. Water hunters utilize a variety of specialized equipment. Depending on location and time of the year they may need just a bathing suit or could need waders, a wet suit or even a dry suit for thermal protection. You will also need wet suit boots, a weight belt, otherwise the buoyancy from the wet or dry suit prevents you from digging all but the shallowest of targets.

A long handled beach scoop. If wading into the water a floating screen, a bag or waste pouch for junk and a more secure container for gold and coins. As with beach hunting remember that To increase your odds of being successful you have to find, pinpoint and dig more targets then the other guy. Its all about percentages. The metal detector hunter who dig more targets has the best chance of finding gold. You should also watch the tide and weather. Go to the beach a couple hours before low tide and work the tide as the water goes out. Its the tide that will dictate how far you can wade out. On several occasions I have found myself barely keeping my toes on the ground but still hearing targets. Once your in water up to your ears its kind of hard to be productive. You are better off in shallower water and being able dig and bag targets. Look over the beach before you enter the water. On some beached they have a swim float. If that area is reachable at low tide it should be productive. Other beaches have beach houses, food stands or bathrooms. On a hot summer day you will find more people near these spots than others. Even if its now mid winter with no swimmers on the beach its just common sense that these higher population areas should hold more targets. While on inland lake and pond beaches coins and jewelry usually stays where it lands. You will find, especially on ocean beaches that mother nature deposits items of similar weight together in small areas or along the same tide line. I have walked the beach for hours finding very few targets, then walked into a small area and started to dig pennies. One of the main rules to water hunting is if you are digging coins Keep Digging Targets. After removing about a hundred pennies I recovered two nice gold rings. The entire area was only 20’ long and about 10’ wide. Watch for storms that can move a lot of sand. Around Long Island we watch for Nor Easters. Any time the wind blows parallel to the beach we can expect cuts in the sand that allow our detectors to reach areas previously buried to deep. My best day on Jones Beach was after a storm. I found five gold rings, six silver rings and three bracelets within an hour. The tide came up and pushed us out of the productive spot. You should also not limit yourself to one beach. Try some of the less popular beaches in the area. Go slowly, especially once you find a few coins. Walk slow and wave the coil slowly. This gives the metal detector time to penetrate deeper into the sand. Keep an eye on your coil height. Coil should only be an inch or so off the sand. Do not discriminate the junk. No one wants to dig flip tops, soda cans or fishing weights but there is a benefit from digging junk. First from the environmentalists perspective we end up cleaning the beaches. Second buried junk often masks the signal of legitimate targets buried nearby. I have seen this firsthand. On the north shore of Long Island we worked a small area of Bayville Beach. At first all we dug was junk, cans, flip tops and aluminum foil. After a couple passes we started to hit almost 100% coins. Then after removing 30-40 coins both Mike McMeekin and I each found a gold ring. Its also always a good idea to look for cuts in the sand of run off channels. Any area where the sand has moved.
Practice

If this is your first time water hunting, its a good idea to practice. So before you jump into neck deep water start off shallow. This is a good time to learn to use not only your detector in this environment but also the scoop and floating screen. When in very shallow water I often do not use a floating screen but rather sift the sand through my scoops screen to isolate the target. Lets go step by step. First locate a target. I then use my left foot to mark the spot. Remember that sometimes waves and murky water will not allow you to visualize the target spot. While holding my foot in position I move the scoop into place and take a deep scoop of sand. With out wasting any time sifting I first re-check the target hole. If target is still there I dump the scoop and take another scoop. Only when the target is no longer in the hole do I sift the sand from the scoop, or in deeper water dump the scoop into a screen. After a few targets in shallow water try moving deeper. You will find that the floating screen must be secured to your waste belt with a proper length of line. You want to be able to use two hands on the scoop and then just turn and dump into the screed without wasting any time pulling it into position. You will also find that having a little foam buoyancy on your machine allows you to release it while digging. We are talking about the coil and wand since on most water machines the actual box can be secured to your waist belt. practice in ankle deep water first, so you can see the general area of your target.
Use the right equipment

Researching New Metal Detecting Locations
Most treasure is found through research. Everyone can get a detector and land hunt. Most will go to the beach and hunt the sand. Fewer will have a water proof machine and venture into the shallow surf. Even fewer will outfit themselves with a wet suit, dry suit, floating screen etc and venture into chest deep water. Fewer still will don scuba equipment to get deeper then the competition. But the guys that really find the good stuff in the water do there homework. They go to the library and local historical society and find the location of old hotel sites and swim beaches. they end up water hunting in areas that no longer have any sighs of the area even being a swim beach. These are the guys that find the old gold, rose gold and old coins. You can do it to. All it takes is a little work and a big sense of adventure.

How to SHIPWRECK DIVING Guide By Capt Dan Berg

The Shipwreck Diving E-Book Instant Downloadable E-Book

Shipwreck Diving, by Capt. Dan Berg is a complete how to book about the sport of wreck diving. This book is packed with information and heavily illustrated with over 80 sensational color photographs.