Swampstomper Al

The guy who came through right previous wot moved all that river rock at the last finds' site is gonna freak out when he sees what he missed..! This'll learn him from being lazy with his detector, especially after doing all that up-front handstacking..! Swamp

Fantastic finds both..! WTG..! Swamp

Old news now, but welcome aboard.. ( One of us was gone for a day or three.. ) Swamp

Has anyone else watched "Detectorists..?" I watched a few installments of 'Season One' on computer via Hulu, or possibly the entire run, since a year can be as few as six episodes, maybe even fewer.. Quite different from our "reality" gold shows.. Wayyy more calm, less in-your-face, more tongue-in-cheek -- more "British", so to speak.. Was actually pretty good, once I got into the flow of it.. It's regular guys, Sad Sack schmo, keep their day job, part-time hunters vs our sell everything in the lower-48 and pack Mama n the kids into a 5th-wheel towed to Alaska hooked to the back of a well-used D-9 cos we're gonna strike it rich rich rich just east of Tundrafrost mentality of our shows.. Swamp

Much has to do with location.. And by that I mean older established communities that remain quite the way they were 60 years ago as opposed to geographical locations.. Towns like that are just, well, friendlier -- even in the deep south.. However, regardless of location, the #1 and most important thing that gets you on to other people's lawns / property is initial impression.. You have anywhere from zero to maybeee 10 seconds after 'they' open their door to present yourself as: friendly, non-threatening, not selling anything, not wanting money either as a donation or for a service to be performed, 'fitting-in' both appearance-wise and language-wise, etc. and so forth.. Ezy-pzy, right..? Uh, no.. Welll, if it isn't an easy matter being able to affect an easy manner, what's the best way to begin the process of getting the pendulem of access success swinging in your favor..? Research.. There is simply no easy way around not knowing.. Not knowing what..? Not knowing why you're knocking on that person's door.. Knowledge of why you're knocking on this door, beyond the general catch-all of requesting permission to metal detect a person's property, is the best way to meet the initial impression requirements.. And guess what..? It's contageous.. In a good way.. If you're excited about wanting to detect a particular location because of what might await based on historical references, this excitement transfers to him-from-whom-you-seek-permission.. Disarming, isn't it..? Knowledge trumps BS every time.. So, if you want to come off as disarmingly charming every time, all you need to do is know what you're talking about.. This alone will get you through and beyond those all-important first ten seconds.. How things go from there is up to you.. Usually a fair percentage offer and a promise of leaving the property in at least the same if not better shape than initially found will result in access.. GL & HH.. Swamp

Welcome aboard.. Swamp

Beach detecting has been 'orrible ever since Matthew sanded everyplace in.. Considering the amount of erosion Irma did I'm believing there should be much new-old stuff just waiting for a coil to be passed over top.. Problem is being able to get to that line due to the high ongoing on-shore breakers.. The good news would be they've prevented everyone from working that zone for any length of time.. So I'm betting (hoping?) most of what got pulled and churned to there is still there.. Hopefully we'll be able to find out soon, but it won't be today or the following couple either.. Surf's running 3' - 4' at the moment.. ( https://www.surfguru.com/ Under central florida, click 3rd down -- Cocoa Beach Pier.. This cam will place you in the center 1/5 th of what I consider my "beach detecting home location," and includes good views both N & S.. ) When I lived beachside it was about 5 blocks N & W of The Pier.. Today, and for the past 24 years, I live a bit over 20 miles W & N of The Pier, with that stretch still being my closest beach access point.. Just a real-time view is all -- what I check these days to see if I want to head that-a-way since I no longer live beachside.. Swamp PS: Would love to find a reale or escudo.. Need to head further S to the Treasure Coast for a shot at 'em..

Just the opposite here since Irma; that's been about the smallest breakers.. Can't walk the near-shore low tide flats without getting pummeled.. Not fun.. Flat surf has to be making you krazee, Mitchel.. Seems like it was just last week you n Rob n others couldn't step on a beach without scoring $30 in rainbow quarters & two gold rings simply for showing up.. Wouldn't mind one bit being on the left coast during / following next El Nino.. Swamp

Welcome aboard.. Swamp

Amazingly, Brandon ( Dr. Tones ) has pulled not one but two "newer" US coin rarities out of the dirt that he got very nice returns on: 1) 1914-D Lincoln wheat penny (multi-hundred $$s at the very least -- private sale so never stated); 2) 1901-S Barber quarter (big time rarity -- thousands for this one even in ground-found condition, actually YouTube vid on this..) He also scored a stater across the pond.. Swamp

I need to think on it a bit.. Sounded good right off the bat.. Then I started remembering some flame wars from times gone by.. Suddenly it didn't sound quite so good anymore.. Swamp

I just took a look at the Cocoa Beach Pier surf cam and it's rougher today than it was Wednesday, which was the last time I was out.. No go the remainder of today anyhow, as next low tide is dark @ approx 7:20P.. 7:36A Sat & 8:30A Sun low tides @ + 0.5' look to be windy with NE wind chop too.. Pretty wet & bumpy for the line I'd want to be walkin'.. Crap shoot at best I'd say.. Fairly dismal otherwise here too.. Tons of old seaweed.. At least most of the canslaw is way far back.. Towel line is zig-zaggy walkable, but that alone is usually not enough to get me there these days unless I'm jonesin' really bad.. Hang tough on the discouraged -- should flip back around soon.. Copy that..! Missed close to two weeks right off the bat due to four+ days no power followed by a week's worth of clean-up.. By the time I first made it beachside, surf was running high and heavy, the beach was all-slope w/no cut and it's been this way or to a lesser extent since.. There's still at least a chance for decent prospects since the beach areas were heavily evacuated and if ya didn't ride it out it was a few days before folks were allowed back onto the barrier islands.. The information I'm missing is what the surf was like the second week..? If things were at all rough, when coupled with the consistantly higher tides I think there's a fairly good chance not much got scooped out of the drop zone.. And actually, I think Ammie would know.. I'm pretty sure they were back beachside by the 2nd week.. Swamp

Yup yup yup.. Same issue and fixes here too (minus the ol' "bad gas cap" replacement scam,) so far.. Difference being I wasn't on the road so could work on it at home instead of needing to call a dealership and pay top-$ to be back on the road ASAP.. Another difference though is that you were back on the road and running fine three hours later whereas I'm now at it well over three months and still not running 100%; am at about 85% to maybe 90% in that dep't.. Still haven't found the last niggling little bit of missing performance gremlin, which is really beginning to pizz me awph..! The fact I only have about 25% as many $$s invested to this point has already been chewed up by the Law of Diminishing Returns and replaced by the Law of Ongoing Aggravation.. Like you, I know if I take it to a dealership odds are there's no way I'm getting out of there for under a grand regardless the problem.. One thing that really churns my butter is these days a dealership won't work on a vehicle without first running a diagnostic.. Well, I 'could' be in agreement with that philosophy, if there was a way to run a full-readout Dx on my van -- which there isn't.. Can't even run a 1st gen much less 2nd gen Dx, but don't even try to talk them into giving up their guaranteed $119.95 + tax digital hoodoo freebee-for-them $$s -- cos it ain't gonna happen.. Doesn't matter there's no under-dash pig-tail of any sort much less the correct sort nor digital readout capability anywhere within the dash cluster (which they could get around simply by saying the codes will be on the printouts,) they aren't about to give up that free buck-twenty for any kind of reason -- even if that reason is they can't actually run a diagnostic on my vehicle.. Truth and honesty have never gotten in the way of billables before and they damm sure ain't about to now..! So there's that.. Anyhow, at this point I've replaced and/or cleaned everything except the charcoal evaporation canaster, which I can't even find ('95 RAM Van 2500, not a RAM truck.. Should be in the same place, but isn't..) I also didn't replace all the injectors, which in hindsight I probably would have been better off buying a complete set of refurbs instead of one new replacement for the troublemaker the way I had things figured (wet cylinder..) I really should sniff for vacuum leaks too but don't believe that's the problem since performance continues to improve as I continue to run better quality injector cleaners through the system.. The one thing I have not and refuse to check is the in-tank fuel filter / pump combo, because I did replace it a few years ago and if that would happen to be the problem I'm afraid I might push the damm van off a cliff.. Good thing I live in FL, since if I did that I could probably fix everything with a quick trip through a car wash.. Swamp PS: Sweet Au.. And -- Something is wayyy not right about $650 labor for 3 hours book.. Even adding the diagnostic to that line it's still about $200 over..

Spot on, Mitchel.. It's right at two months since Irma hit and I've yet to be able to decently work the low tide dropoff shelves that form during periods of higher-surf seas with steeper-sloped no-cut beaches.. I seriously doubt anyone has been able to do so.. It's simply been too rough a go in the zone to stay at it very long if at all.. With the beaches proper being virtually barren and the tides continuing to run abnormally high, the hunt remains a waiting game for the moment.. I can only hope whatever got pulled into the water and whatever got churned beachward from the deep during Irma has remained trapped in the low-tide meeting points this entire time rather than working themselves outward and downward, which under normal conditions following a storm is usually the case.. Swamp

I need another detector like I need another, uhhhhhh, welll, nevermind -- that's not important.. What is important is I never thought I'd actually see the day any mfg. would bring to market a detector that as Steve has noted hits every box I have checked for what I would like to have in a single unit.. Further, Minelab has done so at a price point that makes it virtually impossible to ignore.. What's not to like about one detector that can replace everything except the more extreme specialty machines..? Swamp

Nice finds, Lunk.. Swamp

Plus one for exemplary positioning & usage example of "slugster.." da Swampster

I honestly can't say I've ever looked forward to the release date of a metal detector, much less gotten excited about the, ermmm, prospect.. I do believe the E8 has changed my mindset in that respect, at least a little bit.. Swamp

Ummmm, what's the opposite of TMI..?? A blanket statement about not finding gold at the bottom of a waterfall is 'maybeee' valid in situations where there is a main bowl only.. Show me a gold-bearing stream with a waterfall (much less a multi-path falls) that has secondary gravel-holding-capable depressions or even just cracks off of the main bowls, especially toward the backside, and I'll show you gold every time.. Also, in settings like the one shown, if there's gold above the falls, gold just downstream from the falls, and multi drop points with bowls devoid of gold being the falls, I'm pretty sure I'd be scraping every crack exposed along the route as they are exposed during times of lower water flow.. I'd be checking my fair share of moss too.. Both good info and not-so-good info in the vid.. Where he sees 'a bad place to be checking' I see a huge edge-to-edge top-to-bottom gold trap.. Simply because the Au is getting blown out of the bowls doesn't mean it isn't still right there.. It merely isn't as concentrated in one spot as we'd like it to be is all.. Swamp

Some drone footage of the same general area: Swamp

Ut-oh.. Now you have me questioning my memory.. Maybe numbers do matter after all.. Welll, at least as far as remembering what scale goes with which machine that is.. I typed the above based on where things hit on an AT Pro using the number scale for an F-5, duh.. The safety seals are definitely a 44 on the AT Pro, which puts them below nickles.. But since seeing your post I'm really no longer sure if the condiment packs were 50, which is what I thought I remembered them as and would also put them below nickles too, or if they are a high conductor up 80-81 way right below dime..? Plus, is it possible there is that big a difference between a really 'foil-y' ketchup packet vs the fairly standard industrial brand yellow mustard and pickle relish, which generally come in either all-plastic or a combo plastic-and-light-foil packet..? (Coincidence or otherwise, none of the packets I'm referencing were ketchup..) I'll try to get this straightened out, or at the very least get for sure correct readings / numbers.. Will take the VLF along with or instead of the PI next beach trip.. I wouldn't think it should be possible for a huge discrepancy between similar items, but who knows..? And if my packet reading is wrong as remembered, there should be no difference anyhow.. Gads..! Swamp

Thanks for sharing this fantastic album..! Swamp

Good one..! I failed to mention condiment packs when noting trash items that mimic good targets.. Numbers mean nothing here (because different detector's readouts) but they hit as sweet repeatables above nickles and below zinc.. Something else on the sweetly repeatable 'hit' parade that sounds off just slightly below condiment packs is this thinner pog-type inner safety seal being "cardboard" one side w/ tightly attached metallic flip.. I assume they must belong to a new(er) drink product that comes in a wide-mouth glass bottle.. They started showing up on the beach right at two years ago.. Swamp

Last thing I remember he was about to get involved in a reclamation thing that turned out to not be the party's responsibility.. That had to be close to three months ago though.. Something he said following the determination made it sound to me like he had a lot of work lined up, so I'm going with he's just been busy as heck.. Swamp

Bingo..! Swamp