beach detecting, rocks

[kirkn]

Hi everyone,

thanks for all the tips everyone has been giving me, really appreciate it. i have a beach near me that is only small but has had people for over 100 years. it has sandy beach and off to the side a sandy/rocky area. I have only been 3 times and have seen other guys on the sandy area so tried the rocks ( after some advice). found some coins and probably 80 sinkers from large to tiny. just cant figure out why no one has hit this part or maybe they know that its no good. It has a low channel where the water flows and heaps of sandy rock pools. i found that under the rock is a clay.

What do u guys reckon? keep hitting it or go to the low sandy areas ?

 

[Paulmarr]

Hi Kirk

Treasure is where you find it! If I were you I would be hitting both areas ... my experiences have been that the targets are located together - sometimes they are in the water or between and under the rocks - then other times after a big blow they are high up in the dry sand.

Can I suggest that you make this beach your "study" beach and return here often and throughout the year to learn it's secrets?? Especially after weather patterns have changed the beach structure - for example - rock movement - sand movement - people movement. There is a lot of sand carting here in Adelaide which also reveals targets as the heavy machinery cuts into sand dunes to truck the sand south from where it came.

The main thing is that unless you do this - just rocking up to various beaches will not give you the steady stream of targets you are looking for. Unlike park detecting - the target distribution changes every 12 hours (tides) and the weather moves them in and out of detecting distance week in and week out. Unless the park is like Elder Park - the ground is motionless and the targets dropped historically are still located where they were dropped. To prove my point - in the early days I unearthed a large piece of trash - too big for my finds bag - so I just threw it back in the hole and covered it up. Well... if I didn't unearth that doggone piece of trash THREE DIFFERENT TIMES before I got the message that if I didn't want to find it again I would have to remove it for good! And each time it was in a different location - the last time about 500 metres from the first location days earlier... so the targets definitely move!

I reckon beach detecting is more challenging than park detecting - and as such there are extra skills you need to learn like reading the beach, water detecting, digging in rocks and boulders to name a few... you will need a very good metal sand scoop with a metal handle that can take the pounding you give it by prying large rocks out of the way of targets.

If you are finding sinkers and coins you are in the right area - it is now a matter of patience and perseverance before the gold jewellery starts appearing ...

What detector are you using Kirk?

 

[kirkn]

Thanks Paulmarr for all the help u have given me, I have an Garret Atx, I bought it for the gold fields but once I tried it on the beach I decided beach detecting was for me. It has iron reject . I hopefully will get an ctx one day I have a sturdy long handle scoop.

 

[Goldpick]

If you are getting channels with a clay base, I would definitely be hitting those. The clay acts as a trap for heavy objects, and is basically weathered bedrock, so heavy objects are not likely to got too much deeper.

 

[Paulmarr]

Thanks Paulmarr for all the help u have given me, I have an Garret Atx, I bought it for the gold fields but once I tried it on the beach I decided beach detecting was for me. It has iron reject . I hopefully will get an ctx one day I have a sturdy long handle scoop.

Yes well you have the right tools so all that is left is to start swinging it as often as you can... Sometimes I go down to different beaches for a walk without a detector during the day to scout potential hunting grounds, then return in the evening to see if it is a location I thought it might be. You can get good information from fellow detectorists thinking you are just another curious dog walker asking the ol' "did you find anything?" It is amazing what people will tell you.

I will never forget an old bloke who approached me saying, "Don't waste your time here, there are two blokes who work this area almost everyday so there isn't anything left." I thought about it for about 10 minutes before Bogan pulled an 18k opal ring in the wet sand about 20 feet from where this guy approached me. There is another guy we saw this past summer with his ATX who came and started detecting right next to us - how rude I thought! Bogan started hunting along this guys shovel dragging marks where he had detected, and proceeded to pull coin after coin. We refer to him as " green teeth" due to his unmistakable smile but I haven't seen him around over the winter. But it just goes to show just cause there are guys detecting it doesn't mean they know what they are doing or that they "got it all" ...

 

[silver]

Kirkin, all those sinkers in the rocks had people fishing to lose them, I wonder where they were casting from?

 

[kirkn]

yea there are rocks but not really fishing as on high tide they dissapear

 

[silver]

so are they casting out over the rocky area at high tide maybe,....so possibly you could try up higher where they may have been fishing from above the beach(just a thought).

 

[Sa_bogan]

the ocean is pretty so they would have come from the jetty or even people in boats fishing and the tides/swells move them around

 

[kirkn]

so is it worth detecting?, its onle 10 meters from the main swimming beach

 

[Sa_bogan]

the ocean is pretty so they would have come from the jetty or even people in boats fishing and the tides/swells move them around

meant to write *strong not *so

im not sure what your asking kirk? if its about to be detected then go for it

 

[Dogmatic]

Have you ckecked out the price of sinkers lately? Might be worth more than the coins you would find.
If you are a fisherman will save you plenty.

 

[rileymcsmiley]

Sinkers are a pretty good indication of where the heavier items are in most cases... Might find some gold if you keep at it!