Myers Depot Metal Detectors

Water hunting tip from another Old Timer

C

Cupajo

Elite Member
Joined
May 9, 2009
Messages
3,358
Location
Old Lyme
As I sat in my warm van enjoying my usual cup-a-joe a half hour ago I saw some movement just below the drop off at water's edge. It's 33 degrees here now and as I strolled toward water's edge I saw a young man wearing waterproof cold weather gear and digging in water of 32F and knee to waist depth.

As I have done many times, altho rarely at these temps, he was chasing a small target. He finally resorted to dropping the scoop full above the water's edge on the sand only to discover the target missing. As I stood there in my less than adequate jacket watching he made sure his back was to me for over five minutes of searching and digging.

I've no doubt he wasn't even born years ago when I recovered the first of 6 gold rings in two hours within several feet of where he was digging. One was returned to the owner 40 years after he had lost it in knee deep low tide water!

My point? He missed a learning opportunity to hear of the benefits of using a floating sifter to largely reduce time wasted chasing small targets. My Friend FSA-46 will agree I'm sure! I have recovered many .22 cal. bullets and even smaller shotgun BBs and even an occasional screw-head or aluminum rivet head.

Good luck and happy hunting Friends,

Cupajo

Some nice sifter pics can be found in the "How to section" of this forum.
 
Legend

Great tip my friend hope all is well. Me personally I'm not a sifter guy... I don't bother chasing small targets. Seeing this post made me go back to YouTube and watch this video of you.... I salute you my friend!

 
Great video of a Great hunter! I'm a sifter person for sure. To many rocks, shells, muck in the mix for these old eyes.
 
Good seeing you Lew... I am enjoying Franks sifter that he built... a couple of my friends were so impressed with it they plan on building their own... a lot of work and time went into his sifters...
 
It is so good seeing your post Lew. Hope all is fine with you.

For those of you that don't know, it was Cupajo that was my Mentor when getting started in water detecting and I couldn't fine a better hunter to mimic his techniques.

Of everything I learned from him, I would have to say the single most important thing was using a floating sifter. Everyone may not agree, but for me I never hunted the water without using it.

It is very important not to use ANY metal on your sifter so you can run your coil over it to see if the target is in there.

Below are some pictures and information of my favorite sifter.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Here are a few pics of my sifter. It is made from a 23 diameter poly drum, is 4 deep , with 7/32 holes drilled in the bottom.

I used a solid, 4" Boss Noodle for flotation. I use chaffing gear where the ties go, and holes drilled in them for the ties to go through. The first sifter I made did not have the holes in the chaffing gear and the ties kept slipping off no matter how tight they were.

Marine epoxy was used at the joints and special chaffing gear made at that spot with a band in the back to support that joint.

I made a place to accommodate my scoop at the top of the sifter but must admit I never have used it. I use 2 pounds of lead sinkers on a 4' para cord line to keep the sifter from drifting. I also use a 3' lanyard to attatch to my belt.

Many of the things I have done are not neccessary but I made this to accommodate my hunting style.

It is important to use a white shifter , it makes finding the target much easier when you get our age. LOL

I hope this give you an idea of what is needed in making a scoop.


https://imgur.com/m39TLUe

https://imgur.com/wGPpl4p

https://imgur.com/yYOy7qo
 
Cupajo said:
My point? He missed a learning opportunity...
Cupajo

Some nice sifter pics can be found in the "How to section" of this forum.
Click to expand...

He sure did! Imagine if he took the time to come up and talk to you?...He missed the real treasure that day....Youth is wasted on the young....

I will add, my modest success in this Sport can be attributed to a fortuitous meeting on the beach with an Old Timer when I was a noob....He was willing to share, and I was willing to listen....Tribal Knowledge......
 
Last edited:
What a way to bring memories back, the way it was...
I know I got many tips that came from Cupajo, thou it was indirect and passed to me from Rich J. and had the pleasure of detecting in Lew's beach. As a matter of fact I just finished up putting a set of gauntlet gloves together from his instructions. Can't wait to try them out.

fsa46 also is a great guy to detect with, I really wish him the best and hope to see him back at the beach one of these days.

Knowing which beach needs a sifter is a help, many time I do not need one. Nice clean sand and my scoop will do the job. At other beaches, I would not go without the sifter. Same basic design with a Whites sieve, a noodle, a plastic bottle to cover the noodle's "connection" and cable ties. A great was to go.

PI JOE I love the videos, so many good time back in the 80's and 90's. It is almost a pity that our great grandchildren will have to work so hard to find just a fraction of what we have recovered from the sea. The days of bringing home 10+ gold rings is almost a "tall tail" however true and the big find from a CT pond of over 300 gold rings in one day WOW. I doubt that will ever happen again.

Well it off to the doctor's and if it was not below freezing and the tide was not after sundown, I would try the new gloves out... Maybe the weather will be good enough to get out next week, until then I think I will clean some of my finds...

Thanks to all... stay well and warm.
WaterWalker
 
I'm pretty sure if I was out hunting, and someone was watching me from a distance, I wouldn't go over and ask them for hunting tips. LOL

Just a thought. Has anyone here ever gone up to someone randomly and asked them how to metal detect better? I doubt it!

I'm not sure that's as much of a lost opportunity, as it was a completely normal situation...

:)

Skippy
 
brncofan said:
that is one sweet looking sifter great job frank :dingding:
Click to expand...

Thanks Mark. Hope those measurements help.


Skippy SH13 said:
I'm pretty sure if I was out hunting, and someone was watching me from a distance, I wouldn't go over and ask them for hunting tips. LOL

Just a thought. Has anyone here ever gone up to someone randomly and asked them how to metal detect better? I doubt it!

I'm not sure that's as much of a lost opportunity, as it was a completely normal situation...
:)

Skippy
Click to expand...

I didn't take Cupajos post that way. He was watching the hunter at the waters edge. Usually if I seen someone doing that I would assume they wanted to chat and approach them.

I know many don't want to waste their time doing that but Lew is a friendly guy, if the guy would have come the 10 or so feet ( instead ignoring him ) Cupajo would have offered his opinion and help .

By the sound of things, if he was chasing a target for that long, Lews' advice would have been a BIG help. jmho
 
Skippy SH13 said:
I'm pretty sure if I was out hunting, and someone was watching me from a distance, I wouldn't go over and ask them for hunting tips. LOL

Just a thought. Has anyone here ever gone up to someone randomly and asked them how to metal detect better? I doubt it!

I'm not sure that's as much of a lost opportunity, as it was a completely normal situation...

:)

Skippy
Click to expand...

That depends on the conditions? ..Its a good idea to take the opportunity to talk to any old guy displaying an interest...within reason of course...easy to quickly voidere if the guy has a modicum of knowledge or is simply an old queen out looking for a new pool boy...we have all been there...not that theres anything wrong with that!...:laughing:
 
I've always used a boogie board...

Most places I hunt, you can't really shake out the scoop, gotta dump it...

I've found all sorts (not the signal I dug) of cool things.. Often finding a second target after removing first target and rescanning the pile... Even three targets at times (not even counting the five nails that came with the pile)...

Guys that don't use one, grab the target they thought they heard out of the scoop and dump it.. Sometimes dumping part of a silver spill... I know this because the hole is still there, and a nearby silver right on the surface (when all the others are five inches deep)....

<°)))>{
 

Attachments

  • IMG_20180131_125341.jpg
    IMG_20180131_125341.jpg
    96 KB · Views: 427
I spend about a thousand hours a year hunting the beach and I am sure anyone watching me can tell I am performing at a professional quality skill level (wink).
I always make a point to tell watchers what I found while they were observing me dig (unless its a high value target, then I lie and say its a quarter or something). I rewarded with stories about near relatives who found treasure with or without a detector or get question about detecting or buying a detector.

I was once a noob too and feel I have a duty to encourage others as I would have liked to have been. I joined the local club and found friends and help there. Reading posts from Mud and others was a big help too. :friends:
 
When fsa46 was just starting in the water I showed him how well my old sifter, made from a barrel bottom, worked.

When we next hunted together I was amazed to see that he had taken a few of my ideas and created a sifter "work of art"!! When he later improved on his creation I received his first sifter as a gift and have proudly used it ever since!!

Many thanks My Friend!!

Joe your video still amazes me Pal!!
 
Cupajo said:
When fsa46 was just starting in the water I showed him how well my old sifter, made from a barrel bottom, worked.

When we next hunted together I was amazed to see that he had taken a few of my ideas and created a sifter "work of art"!! When he later improved on his creation I received his first sifter as a gift and have proudly used it ever since!!

Many thanks My Friend!!

Joe your video still amazes me Pal!!
Click to expand...

You're very welcome Lew. Here's a pic of the first sifter I made and the one Cupajo is referring to. I cut the bottom out on the barrel and bolted a perforated sheet I got from McMaster Carr to it.

I wanted a white sifter because it was easier for me to see the targets and used the remainder of the perforated sheet, ( from the first sifter ), to bolt to the bottom of the new barrel. I then just drilled out the holes using the sheet as a template.


https://imgur.com/6K00Zta
 
fsa46 said:
You're very welcome Lew. Here's a pic of the first sifter I made and the one Cupajo is referring to. I cut the bottom out on the barrel and bolted a perforated sheet I got from McMaster Carr to it.

I wanted a white sifter because it was easier for me to see the targets and used the remainder of the perforated sheet, ( from the first sifter ), to bolt to the bottom of the new barrel. I then just drilled out the holes using the sheet as a template.


https://imgur.com/6K00Zta
Click to expand...

Like that sifter.
Thanks.
 
PI JOE said:
Great tip my friend hope all is well. Me personally I'm not a sifter guy... I don't bother chasing small targets. Seeing this post made me go back to YouTube and watch this video of you.... I salute you my friend!

Click to expand...

I don't know how you hunt without a sifter. I drag mine EVERYWHERE. It's the time you don't bring it, that you need it. Plus, who wants to sit there picking through a scoop while in chest deep water . It's much faster to dump into a sifter and keep going.
 
Cfmct said:
Good seeing you Lew... I am enjoying Franks sifter that he built... a couple of my friends were so impressed with it they plan on building their own... a lot of work and time went into his sifters...
Click to expand...

Dilly Dilly. That thing is awesome! I plan to make one soon. I never realized how stupid it was to use a black coke tray as the base for my sifter. It's worked well but finding the target is a pita sometimes.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Similar threads

W
I found a turtle today
Replies
7
Views
222
KOB
KOB
romyrome
Gold 1st Target, Silver & A New Friend
Replies
7
Views
206
Popsgoatee
Popsgoatee
FelixtheCat
FEATURED My 3rd Class Ring! 14k - And Last 2 Apple Filled Hunts
Replies
11
Views
304
Kansashunter
Kansashunter
W
Lightning struck again
Replies
16
Views
269
KOB
KOB
J
My wife hates this hat!
Replies
13
Views
343
John Madill
J
Back
Top Bottom