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Beach Techniques


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Look at your beach reports and find a beach that faces the incoming waves.  If the waves are from the SE then you want a beach that faces the SE for example.  

Look at the wave height and energy.  If the waves are 'big' compared to normal then there is a chance that energy will help you with moving up some buried trinkets.  You need waves that will move things around and sort them like a gold pan.  You are in great luck if these big waves are coming in near a high tide/out going.  It is kinda like your fishing tides.  Some are better than others.

Another thing you want to look at is the wave intervals.  If you have waves coming in at less than 10 seconds here that is a good sign.  That can be a depositing wave and you use that information in combination with the wind speed and direction.

Sometimes you have good everything except the wind is in the wrong direction and the waves don't get pushed over just right so the rocks, weights and GOLD stays in the trough rather than make it up the slope of the beach.

You have some things that are pushed up and some things that are 'cut away' from the beach that are too deep.  A series of waves hitting a cut stops the energy and at the base of the cut can be your best beach of the year but it doesn't stay that way for long.  You have to be there.

That can be in the storm.  

Most beaches get waves from storms hundreds of miles away or from a storm coming onshore.  Just a couple of times I've been out in rain gear and there can be good targets in the surf.  You can stand there and stuff comes to you.  😍

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By the looks of this my best chance may be the lower low tide tomorrow evening (Saturday here tomorrow).   Plenty of wind here tonight that is pretty much onshore. 

7 second wave interval in the morning, slowing in the arvo.  
 

Can’t find an ‘energy’ rating on the charts I’ve looked at so far. 
 

Thanks for the detailed tips Mitchel, it is appreciated.  The conditions and the digging are much easier than chasing gold but still plenty to learn about the best spot to search for the treasure  😉
 

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Adam,

I use this site most often.  I know there are others.  Sometimes I feel that it is good and sometimes not so good.  If you are a surfer you know what I mean.

https://www.surf-forecast.com/breaks/Shelly-Beach/forecasts/latest/six_day 

 

There is no substitute for local knowledge.  You have to read your beach.

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5 hours ago, mn90403 said:

I use this site most often.

Spot on Mitchel. Thanks again  😉

Looks like this morning was full of energy!  Overnight it has been super windy so will be interesting to see what the beach looks like today.   FF2570EE-D76B-49B4-BE2E-258FFFA13A14.thumb.png.ad094749379bad3bda7f1c697314a899.png6881FB4A-DEC9-4805-AF6B-00006E36172D.thumb.png.4141fe6a3779338e49be129704e9f3a8.png

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2 hr evening sesh done and dusted. 

Windy?  You bet!  Penguins were flying they had that much turbulence behind them!! 
 

The dry sand is winning for me.  Got all the good bits in the dry sand and at absolute low tide I went hunting down near the bottom of the beach.  A 20 cent piece and a pull tab were the result.  Couldn’t find a line of anything.  Couldn’t even find a sinker.  Geofjunk’s idea of coming down at Easter at the absolute low tide is perhaps worthy of some serious consideration.  
 

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2 rings are sterling silver.  Nothing special but good fun.  
 

The gold coloured thing?  No idea.  It is broken off something.  Almost seems like painted cast iron. 

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Morning session. Just as much crap, not as much bling.  The dry sand area of this beach is pretty much done. Will have to look further afield this evening. 
 

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Well, I’m home again now. Mountains, freshwater rivers and warmth. I don’t mind the beach but we sure live in a blessed part of the country. 
 

Did a 30 minute session last evening for $4 and some junk. 
 

Was an interesting trip all up and learnt a few things. 
 

Almost all good finds were within 15 metres of the step/path leading onto the beach.  
 

Money was most frequently found within proximity of bottle tops  😂
 

Wet sand/shallow water detecting is much harder to get a handle of than dry sand/towel line detecting. 
 

The Equinox 800 - is a bloody cracker. Couldn’t be happier with its performance and also the performance of the supplied Minelab Bluetooth headphones.  I’ve used the Nox a lot around home for coins and some gold but have only used the beach mode one other time. Targets really seemed to ‘bang’ in that mode and got great depth. 
 

Thanks so much to the people that provided suggestions, hints and tips to help me, it is very much appreciated  🤩

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Happy The admin. placed this post here in the Metal detecting for Jewelry as it will be seen more by the members that are dedicated to this style of detecting, more knowledge can be shared. As for the dry sand  " Almost all good finds were within 15 metres of the step/path leading onto the beach." and  "Money was most frequently found within proximity of bottle tops (new money) has been my experience. Let hope some more insight is posted on the topic. 

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Great job Northeast,

   But I'll trade you my beaches for your mountains!

   You are correct in the things you learned so far!

☆ Near the beach entrances are were people are shuffling all their belongings, and drop items!

☆ Beercaps and lost items go together! People lay there items on the towel, blanket, or chair, and flip them into the sand unknowingly when leaving! Or they fall out of loose pockets!👍 The beercaps, on the otherhand, are usually tossed intentionally!🤬

☆ The other one that you didn't really get to experience is the jewelry slipping off people in the surf and shallow water! Those are the toughest to find because they are in such an active zone! And many times are out of detector reach, until some decent erosion! In my area's case, the municipality's keep burying them, with taxpayer funded renurishment sand!🤬

   Good luck in your home stomping grounds!👍👍

 

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Thanks geof and Joe.   

On 1/19/2021 at 6:56 AM, Joe D. said:

The beercaps, on the otherhand, are usually tossed intentionally!

Yep, very frustrating.  Silver foil caps off icy poles called Callipos (not sure if you have them in the US) and smaller silver foil protection caps off sunscreen tubes and yoghurt squeezy things.  They were coming in a constant 1, 2 and 8 depending on their size.  I eventually ignored 1's and 2's (probably at my peril) but simply couldn't ignore an 8.  Rubbish really gives me the sprits!

 

On 1/19/2021 at 6:56 AM, Joe D. said:

The other one that you didn't really get to experience is the jewelry slipping off people in the surf and shallow water!

Yes, and I didn't pursue it too strongly as I only had a little spade and a plastic shovel for sorting - not appropriate for in-water searching.  Next time I will invest in one of these thinga-my-bobs.   

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