Shallow fresh water, lots of iron. how would you hunt it.

beachdude · Nov 17, 2012

I have a freshwater site that is very shallow, maybe knee deep. There are lots of iron nails and various bits of brass, and some old tin can pieces in the matrix. Very little aluminum or bottlecaps.

There are good targets in there though as I have found a few gold rings and lots of old coins over the last few months.

I own an excal 1000 and also an etrac with a standard coil and a 6" exelerator . I find the excal can't really separate the treasure from the trash in this site all that well. It nulls out constantly and the best performance I am getting out of it is when it is in auto sensitivity, because otherwise it falses like crazy. I guess the 800 coil might be better here, but I don't want to spend all that money to get another excal.

I have tried the etrac out with the 6" coil and also the standard coil and this seems to be giving me a bit better separation, but I am still learning the etrac so I may be missing stuff due to my noobie-ness with the detector.

How would you guys hunt a site like this using the gear I currently own?

OBN · Nov 17, 2012

Etrac and dig only the numbers that say gold. I have a SE and hunting like this, anything that poped up from 1-25 to 14-00 I would dig. That would include all the brass I'm sure, And..Gridit. Years ago I did something similar to Surfdiggers spiral, or Andy Sabischs sprial, I would take a wood pole out in the water with a small rope attached to the middle with a clip for attaching it to my belt loop. Then slowly unwound circling the pole. Then moving on to another area. Only good for lakes or calm water days.

Cfmct · Nov 17, 2012

The Excal with a 8 inch coil is better for trashy spots... too bad they are hardwired

Jack Flynn · Nov 17, 2012

Put the Excal in pinpoint and dig it all! In an isolated spot just go at it and then next time just move over some and hunt a different area. You will be surprised what a known to have good target area will give up when you methodically start removing it all. That's what I do.......

beachdude · Nov 17, 2012

Jack Flynn said:
Put the Excal in pinpoint and dig it all! In an isolated spot just go at it and then next time just move over some and hunt a different area. You will be surprised what a known to have good target area will give up when you methodically start removing it all. That's what I do.......

I was hitting the deeper water with a dual field in the summer, and that was really hard, but in the shallows the trash density is enormously high - multiple iron targets always under the coil. Digging all would be a nightmare.

I was thinking of using two tone ferrous on the etrac and digging the high tones only, even if they are the tiny bleeps.

Irons · Nov 17, 2012

I have a spot that is identical to what you described. The place was a sawmill with a wooden pier in 1880 and a cannery in 1910.

The place is full of square nails and sheet metal. Detecting in the water is a constant broken iron buzz on my AT Pro.
I scoop every mid and high tone in the iron buzz, any odd sound. You won't get a clean hit here.

I find copper and brass buttons, buckles, grommets, coins, tokens, and gold rings. Nails and can scraps and broken glass come up in every scoop. I scooped the brass guts of an antique oil lamp today.
I honestly believe other folks have tried to detect here and gave up.

The stock 9x11 DD coil was OK, I went back today with the 5x8 DD and the target separation was way better. Found an indian head penny and a gold ring.

I'm not familiar with the machines you are using, do they have the thin detecting strip like a DD coil has? I found shortening the coil by just 3 inches made a huge difference isolating targets for me.

Good luck! :grin:

beachdude · Nov 17, 2012

Irons said:
I'm not familiar with the machines you are using, do they have the thin detecting strip like a DD coil has? I found shortening the coil by just 3 inches made a huge difference isolating targets for me.

Good luck!

My Excalibur coil is a 10" DD and Can't be changed.

The Etrac is a land machine but I can change coils on it - the stock coil is a 10"DD and I have a smaller 6" Excelerator DD that is supposed to get good depth in spite of its small diameter. I am terrified of dropping the Etrac in the water so I wear a shoulder strap attached to rubber bicycle inner tubes wrapped around the upper part by the cuff.

Irons · Nov 17, 2012

beachdude said:
My Excalibur coil is a 10" DD and Can't be changed.

The Etrac is a land machine but I can change coils on it - the stock coil is a 10"DD and I have a smaller 6" Excelerator DD that is supposed to get good depth in spite of its small diameter. I am terrified of dropping the Etrac in the water so I wear a shoulder strap attached to rubber bicycle inner tubes wrapped around the upper part by the cuff.

I would go with the smallest DD and use the safety strap on it! I was skeptical about the 5x8 DD coil on the Pro but figured I would try one anyway.

I now have 2, one on each machine. :lol:

They really work! Good luck and follow up with some pics. :grin:

OBN · Nov 18, 2012

Go 6 inch and wrap it in a PVC bag, I like the digital screen along with the tones, when you get a high tone start watching the screen for the right number. SE Only Numbers..........PVC bag is the idea of Khouse.

18kRonin · Nov 18, 2012

Jack Flynn said:
Put the Excal in pinpoint and dig it all! In an isolated spot just go at it and then next time just move over some and hunt a different area. You will be surprised what a known to have good target area will give up when you methodically start removing it all. That's what I do.......

Sounds like the way I'd do it too Jack :yes:

I had a similar beach to you Beachdude, not fresh water but a virgin beach with heaps of trash and a LOT of iron. Drove me crazy hunting with the Excal so hit it with the DF. :lol:

http://metaldetectingforum.com/showthread.php?t=77477

A smallish beach but a heap of hard work. Each hunt I just kept on going over it with the DF not digging every target, only the smallish ones if I could find any :yes:

to thin the iron and trash out and every now and then when I came to a real dense patch of trash I'd take a few scoops out of it here and there to break it up. Kept doing that for 5 or 6 6-8 hour hunts. That place turned out to be my honey hole last year the gold and plat I got was real deep hiding under all that iron. Now it's very DF friendly and I'm real glad I put the time in. Would try doing a test strip say 5-10 yards wide. I was lucky most of the iron was small stuff and no more than 2 or 3 scoops down, big deep iron could be a problem for you if there is that stuff in your lake. Tried doing the same thing to another beach and it almost broke me :lol:

kept on finding deeper and deeper iron never found the end of it :no:

Keep us posted on how you get on with it.

HH&GL
18

dewcon · Nov 18, 2012

Id use the smallest coil i had on the ET in AM first with reduced sensitivity because you arent looking for really deep targets and are just causing the machine to pick up more larger and deeper iron. Might even try auto sensitivity. Grid out a section and dig anything you know isnt iron. You could use a jewelry or gold pattern but i believe the machine recovers from a null faster from a beep. Then go back over it with the Xcal since it has a little better tone and is just the best at ignoring iron. BUT if you are serious about getting the good stuff..... you really have to remove it all. Some people even use one of those push magnets used by roofers to remove the surface iron. You are in the right spot thou.... way to many people pass right over a trashy area... and have for years.

Dew

Hotrod Tom · Nov 18, 2012

Swing slower and try raising the coil a little higher. You'll lose some depth but will should have a little better target separation. I hope this will help you on this site, it doesn't always help but it's worth a try. Good Luck!

Shallow fresh water, lots of iron. how would you hunt it.

beachdude

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