Small Gold And Lots Of Aluminum

[Compass]

My last beach hunt was a total bust so a friend and I headed for one of our favorite lakes a few days later. As you can see from the attached pictures I dug a lot of trash during the 8 hour water hunt but the trash to treasure ratio was not that bad. The 3 smaller rings are all stamped "14k" with the following Manticore target IDs: 2.6 g Quinceanera ring - "7", 2.7 g yellow gold band - "28" and the 3.6 g white gold band - "18".

After the first 2 gold rings and during the last 2 hours of the hunt we moved to a different part of the lake and started finding pull tabs about every other target. Obviously, this area had not been hunted in a while and I felt that there had to be gold near by. I stopped digging quarter and dime signals to conserve energy and to maximize my chances of finding more gold and that strategy seemed to pay off when I found that 3rd gold ring in the waning minutes of the hunt. 

Lake hunting is fun but so much more work than detecting the wet sand at the beach. I'm fortunate to have both options available but can't wait until my beaches start producing again which may be soon as "hurricane" season is here.

[stupot]

Well, thats really a very good effort you put in. I think a lot of very positive attitude helps and i think you had it.

The finds show its likely undetected, more gold to be found there for sure. Leaving the coins was a good idea, especially as it increased your gold rate brilliantly!

[TheDeepseeker]

That's awesome Compass, well done mate. I admire how someone can read the information they are receiving, form a strategy and then get the best results in the time frame that they have. I'd never thought about the difference between beach and lake hunting before, but I'd imagine digging through mud and the resulting cloudy stirred up water would just add another layer of difficulty to the venture.

[tvr]

6 hours ago, Compass said:

Lake hunting is fun but so much more work than detecting the wet sand at the beach.

I like being in the water as that supports my body weight and my back holds up much better than hunting the wet sand. How was water clarity? it is more work when you can't see the bottom where the digging needs to happen.  

Very nice hunt! 

[rvpopeye]

The hunt score card is filled out nicely Compass !🖖

[mn90403]

Compass,

You are exactly right on the beaches.  Nothing there but some of the regulars are going out with hope because they have nothing better to do.  You found something better and scored.

I know some of those lakes close to all activity soon so go get more!

[Compass]

7 hours ago, stupot said:

Well, thats really a very good effort you put in. I think a lot of very positive attitude helps and i think you had it.

The finds show its likely undetected, more gold to be found there for sure. Leaving the coins was a good idea, especially as it increased your gold rate brilliantly!

I appreciate the kind words stupot, "Leaving the coins.." is something that I have tried at the beach when there are plentiful targets but there is the risk of missing silver jewelry, big gold or perhaps large targets like watches or bracelets. I know a couple of successful hunters that use this strategy often.

7 hours ago, TheDeepseeker said:

That's awesome Compass, well done mate. I admire how someone can read the information they are receiving, form a strategy and then get the best results in the time frame that they have. I'd never thought about the difference between beach and lake hunting before, but I'd imagine digging through mud and the resulting cloudy stirred up water would just add another layer of difficulty to the venture.

Thanks Deepseeker, The visibility of this lake water is practically zero so stirring up the bottom is not the issue. Some parts of the lake have a clay or rocky bottom which doesn't sift through the sand scoop. Sometimes it's easier to wade to the shore and dump the scoop to find the target. I've actually used a floating platform for this purpose but it can still be cumbersome,

2 hours ago, tvr said:

I like being in the water as that supports my body weight and my back holds up much better than hunting the wet sand. How was water clarity? it is more work when you can't see the bottom where the digging needs to happen.  

Very nice hunt! 

Thanks TVR, The clarity at this lake is awful but I'm used to it and the M8 coil helps with pinpointing. It's the digging that wears me out. There is soft sand in a couple of spots but most of the shoreline has golfball sized gravel, clay, soft mud or hard-packed fine sand to scoop through. 

1 hour ago, rvpopeye said:

The hunt score card is filled out nicely Compass !🖖

Thank you rvp, No silver rings which was unusual but I'm not complaining. 🙂

1 hour ago, mn90403 said:

Compass,

You are exactly right on the beaches.  Nothing there but some of the regulars are going out with hope because they have nothing better to do.  You found something better and scored.

I know some of those lakes close to all activity soon so go get more!

Thanks M, There are also a couple more lakes that I will be hunting soon but I'm anticipating (praying for) some epic beach action next month. 🤞

[F350Platinum]

Excellent hunt, Compass. 

I really love the low conductor handling of that machine, you know you have something worth pursuing no matter what the conditions are. I'm very glad I decided to add it to my toolbox. 🍀Just wish I had a few lakes to hunt around here 😏

[Wild Bill]

Nice work Compass!  I can’t help but think of all the manufacturers adds over the years claiming ‘dig less trash, stop digging trash’ etc… and no matter how advanced this tech gets it’s still a major challenge to discriminate out highly conductive trash and not miss the goods.  If we could pile all the trash from all detector operators from all over the world from one year of searching, how large would that pile become?  It’s an under appreciated service going on daily.  I’m sure many of us has run into some clueless complainer at some point that was offended by the sight of a metal detector as some kind of greedy thief or an environmental disaster digging that little hole.  If they only knew!