July 3rd HB. King tides & High Surf !

KOB · Jul 4, 2020

The beaches are closed for the 4th and 5th. So I went the 3rd to get a hunt in at Huntington Beach. Parking was extremely tough. Only lot open was the city lot at $25. No way , so I parked 6 blocks into the neighborhood and walked. The beach was packed all around the pier. Got there at low tide , waves were 6-8 feet. Not many targets at all in the wet but couldn't get too far out where people were swimming because of the surf. I was drenched and it was dangerous. A few areas had a slope. As the tide moved up , the waves began to make a nice 3' cut. It had the looks of becoming huge. Only a few coins. By this time later the crowds were leaving. The king tide and high surf was too much ! The cut was being overrun , going way up onto the beach and dragging the cut down. Following it down , the sand was soft and spongy. Heavy targets I know were sinking fast and lighter ones were on top.

So then , with nobody on the towel line I decided to do that. I was the 1st one on it ! It was absolutely horrible. With all these people , you would think I would have scored. People were drinking heavy. What should have been an epic , stellar hunt with the crowds , surf and tides turned into a fiasco. Ended up with about $2 in clad and some couple pieces of junk jewelry. It was all you could dig on bottlecaps and tent stakes (insane amount). Surf will back down a bit when the beaches open and I will be working the bottom slope , wet. I know stuff is being pulled there. Just hope its accessible and not too sanded over. I took a few pics of all this , but really not worth posting. The only good I got was the exercise and eye candy... and they were out in force...

OBN · Jul 4, 2020

Just good to be out of the house.

Can't go wrong getting a work out. And the eye candy is a bonus, sure miss that here...beach's been closed for 50 years , do get a occasional paddy boarder which is a real treat.

Bklein · Jul 5, 2020

Crazy amount of tent stakes everywhere... If we don’t get them they’ll turn into nasty sharp rusty spikes.The sand scrapers need to get some big magnets.

low tide · Jul 6, 2020

I was very much the opposite. I went to Pacific Beach down in San Diego on Thursdays - 1.0 low tide. LOTS of real estate. Bars closed at 10pm thanks to the Rona Hardly a sole out there. Only saw 2 other hunters on a 6 hr hunt. Few bucks in change, one Samsung phone, one MAJORLY disappointing fake gold chain with pendant, 3 earrings, and 3 silver rings. NOT A SINGLE PENNY... Yes you heard it from me!
At the waters edge of the lowest point of low tide were cuts from rip tides. I could drop down about 3 feet in them. Still filled with water and lots of sand shark pups and little fish.. Lots of targets but mostly ended up being aluminum !!!!.. It was fun.... Especially since I had to drive 350 miles ea way now that I am a Las Vegas resident. It was a great few days at the beach..... %##@$ drive home though.

KOB · Jul 6, 2020

low tide said:
I was very much the opposite. I went to Pacific Beach down in San Diego on Thursdays - 1.0 low tide. LOTS of real estate. Bars closed at 10pm thanks to the Rona Hardly a sole out there. Only saw 2 other hunters on a 6 hr hunt. Few bucks in change, one Samsung phone, one MAJORLY disappointing fake gold chain with pendant, 3 earrings, and 3 silver rings. NOT A SINGLE PENNY... Yes you heard it from me!
At the waters edge of the lowest point of low tide were cuts from rip tides. I could drop down about 3 feet in them. Still filled with water and lots of sand shark pups and little fish.. Lots of targets but mostly ended up being aluminum !!!!.. It was fun.... Especially since I had to drive 350 miles ea way now that I am a Las Vegas resident. It was a great few days at the beach..... %##@$ drive home though.

Good to see you got out. Last few days have been STELLAR. Let me know when you come out next time...

LongJohnSilver1 · Jul 6, 2020

low tide said:
I was very much the opposite. I went to Pacific Beach down in San Diego on Thursdays - 1.0 low tide. LOTS of real estate. Bars closed at 10pm thanks to the Rona Hardly a sole out there. Only saw 2 other hunters on a 6 hr hunt. Few bucks in change, one Samsung phone, one MAJORLY disappointing fake gold chain with pendant, 3 earrings, and 3 silver rings. NOT A SINGLE PENNY... Yes you heard it from me!
At the waters edge of the lowest point of low tide were cuts from rip tides. I could drop down about 3 feet in them. Still filled with water and lots of sand shark pups and little fish.. Lots of targets but mostly ended up being aluminum !!!!.. It was fun.... Especially since I had to drive 350 miles ea way now that I am a Las Vegas resident. It was a great few days at the beach..... %##@$ drive home though.

If you're in vagas why not hunt for gold nuggets in the desert?

rob.ream258 · Jul 6, 2020

Bummer on your hunt.....at least you didn't drop $25 on parking. Seems to me you'll be there digging out that cut as soon as you can....gotta be something that didn't get sucked out to sea.

We had record people here in PCB and I hit record high clad & Bud caps.....but no cuts....none!!! I dug the low spots and nothing. Came home with a sore back and loads of clad but no bling - none at all - not even a dry sand drop.....

Sent from my SM-N960U using Tapatalk

low tide · Jul 6, 2020

LongJohnSilver1 said:
If you're in vagas why not hunt for gold nuggets in the desert?

Not to hijack the OP but to answer your question:

Moved to Vegas last October from San Diego. It was a financial decision among other things. My pay went up 10%, I bought a house for 65% less than it would cost in SD, and I relocated mostly because the current boss I had in SD was a douche. Vegas is wonderful in that respect for me.

Hunting for gold? Last February i took my Nox800, my dry washer and all my camping gear out to Arizona's Gold Basin and White Mt in search of the yellow. 120 mi drive ea way, no gold and it was for the most part,..... BORING! The gold can be had, but you need to watch claims, you need to watch snakes and its HOT 5 months out of the yr. I'd also need new gold hunting machines. I don't care to buy any more machines for awhile esp right now w/ the economy.

Vegas MD is LAME! There is the Spanish Trail that you can try to hunt but it again is BORING and all you'll get is some coins if your seriously lucky. Park hunting is only as old as maybe 1955 and rangers watch most parks like hawks. Oh and it's HOT!!!! today is 112... lol....

I fly free and intend(ed) to fly here and there of points of interest . SD being a hot spot that I love. Well thanks to the Rona, flights aren't an option right now.

There's nothing like a 65 degree night hunt on low tide with a full moon and just you and your detector. Add a little excitement in thinking that someone might try to jump you (lol) and it's FUN!

low tide · Jul 6, 2020

KOB said:
Good to see you got out. Last few days have been STELLAR. Let me know when you come out next time...

will do.. pm me your #... Probably won't be out for a few months at least and then after that I'll be doing a lot more end of the yr erosion hunting down there. Currently looking to get a full size truck with a slide camper so I can road trip more. Actually excited to do that. I think that means I'm getting old. :laughing:

Two wks ago I hit la jolla and got tired and it began to rain so i went to the truck and laid down. Well about 20 minutes later a car pulled up and a teen tried to get in to my truck and got spooked and ran.... #$@#er's ... be careful with your vehicles at beaches. People know that you're usually not in/near it and that wallets, jewelry, phones, etc are in there from beach goer's .. Its prevalent in La Jolla.. Lots of goons.

Bklein · Jul 7, 2020

KOB said:
Good to see you got out. Last few days have been STELLAR. Let me know when you come out next time...

Curious as to how conditions were when “stellar”. Was this during the extreme low tide only? In the wet but safe from the waves, or? The reason I ask is I just hunted Laguna this afternoon and the waves were killers. 20-30mph surges. Too many people too. Kids in groups like Florida. South near the rock point a lot of sand was missing - I’m wondering if anyone got much there earlier. But the waves wanted to kill. Not fun trying to find gold if I have to worry about safety all the time.

KOB · Jul 7, 2020

Bklein said:
Curious as to how conditions were when “stellar”. Was this during the extreme low tide only? In the wet but safe from the waves, or? The reason I ask is I just hunted Laguna this afternoon and the waves were killers. 20-30mph surges. Too many people too. Kids in groups like Florida. South near the rock point a lot of sand was missing - I’m wondering if anyone got much there earlier. But the waves wanted to kill. Not fun trying to find gold if I have to worry about safety all the time.

Without giving everything away here , I've had to hit multiple beaches on my hunts. Carlsbad and Newport to name a few. Even at 4am. Other pro's are pounding it too. Yes , it's been sketchy and dangerous. The best time has been about 2 hours before HIGH tide. Im wearing swim trunks because I'm drenched.
I've hunted the last 4 days in a row. Not including the horrible 3rd. All 4 days have been minimum 1 gold. Got to take a day off because my body is broken. Then back at it before it's gone. Hit the top of slopes and where sand has been totally sucked out. GL...

Bklein · Jul 8, 2020

Thanks KOB... Even though I’m 40 minutes from the beach I have limited time for hunting and sometimes its good but mostly its been bad. I see these areas where the sand is almost gone and wonder if someone got lucky there or it is just an indication of really nasty wave action that’s impossible to work in until things die down. I rarely find anything at such places- a lead weight or two, some worn quarters, etc. A few days later it will have 2-3 feet of sand on it. There are probably like 20 or so regulars like you that can and do hunt as often as they like and are willing and set to get totally drenched. I was like that when I started, with a crappy scoop and a surf pi. Now with harness, kingsize stealth scoop, and CTX I can’t risk that. Maybe I should lighten up on these times.
Another question- I’m really hating these mini-tsunami 30mph surges. If they get over a foot deep or so they can knock me over if I’m not prepared. Are they just as present independent of low or high tide?

KOB · Jul 8, 2020

Bklein said:
Thanks KOB... Even though I’m 40 minutes from the beach I have limited time for hunting and sometimes its good but mostly its been bad. I see these areas where the sand is almost gone and wonder if someone got lucky there or it is just an indication of really nasty wave action that’s impossible to work in until things die down. I rarely find anything at such places- a lead weight or two, some worn quarters, etc. A few days later it will have 2-3 feet of sand on it. There are probably like 20 or so regulars like you that can and do hunt as often as they like and are willing and set to get totally drenched. I was like that when I started, with a crappy scoop and a surf pi. Now with harness, kingsize stealth scoop, and CTX I can’t risk that. Maybe I should lighten up on these times.
Another question- I’m really hating these mini-tsunami 30mph surges. If they get over a foot deep or so they can knock me over if I’m not prepared. Are they just as present independent of low or high tide?

You gotta keep in mind that these waves and tides don't often coincide. In fact it's almost rare the last 2 years. You must be able to drop everything to take advantage. Higher tide is obviously more dangerous. But even at lowtide , if out in the wet , a 1 foot wall of water rushing fast can knock me off my feet if not prepared. If you're getting sinkers and worn coins , you are in a good area. Old gold is being found right now. GL...

July 3rd HB. King tides & High Surf !

KOB

OBN

OldCherryPicker

Bklein

Senior Member

low tide

Elite Member

KOB

LongJohnSilver1

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rob.ream258

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low tide

Elite Member

low tide

Elite Member

Bklein

Senior Member

KOB

Bklein

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KOB

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