Big Boys Hobbies

How to at water's edge?

I very seldom drag my scoop. After 45 years I know. What others fail to mention is that after dragging a scoop for 10 minutes it fills up with sand , when wet can be heavy towing around. In your digging scenario , I would have ditched the detector and dug to China throwing the sand/dirt up closer to shore. After about 10 shovel fills, recheck the hole. You should have target out by then.
 
not sure what you're digging with but I hunt with the biggest scoop I can handle...Deep digs and timing is everything in a condition that you mention. Also don't get to eager and wack your scoop to hard with your foot. I was on a HOT target and was getting frustrated. Every time Id re find it and start to get, a wave would smash me.. DAMN YOU MOTHER NATURE!!! YOU'RE A WH0R#!!!! It was comedic in a way. My wife was near me and she thought I had turrets!~Anyways, the reason I say not to rush a foot onto your scoop is because I hit my shovel to hard one time because I was irritated at the waves and I hit a rock and now I have a bad bone spur on the top of my toe's knuckle. 3 yrs now and it hurts ALL THE TIME.. Certainly wasn't worth that damn penny.
 
low tide said:
not sure what you're digging with but I hunt with the biggest scoop I can handle...Deep digs and timing is everything in a condition that you mention. Also don't get to eager and wack your scoop to hard with your foot. I was on a HOT target and was getting frustrated. Every time Id re find it and start to get, a wave would smash me.. DAMN YOU MOTHER NATURE!!! YOU'RE A WH0R#!!!! It was comedic in a way. My wife was near me and she thought I had turrets!~Anyways, the reason I say not to rush a foot onto your scoop is because I hit my shovel to hard one time because I was irritated at the waves and I hit a rock and now I have a bad bone spur on the top of my toe's knuckle. 3 yrs now and it hurts ALL THE TIME.. Certainly wasn't worth that damn penny.
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LOL, thanks for sharing THAT one... I resemble that remark.. tis one of the fun things about metal detecting.. don't care who sees me being made a fool of by Mother Nature.. she CAN be a nasty one ;)

Someone down in Florida told me that if I hit a large target hit but can't find it by digging, it's most likely a can on end deep down.. if you don't get it out after a foot or so of digging, you're wasting time.. But curiosity always gets the best of me..
 
Another thing to note is that if it's a softer sand/shell combo ( meaning light ) that if say a heavy ring starts out at say 10 " deep , alot of times it will fall deeper and faster in the hole than you can dig. A very large sand scoop and speed is paramount in this situation. You will never get them all , but this should increase your odds . Especially if you're digging alot of targets like this in a particular area if the tides are not in your favor.
 
KOB said:
Another thing to note is that if it's a softer sand/shell combo ( meaning light ) that if say a heavy ring starts out at say 10 " deep , alot of times it will fall deeper and faster in the hole than you can dig. A very large sand scoop and speed is paramount in this situation. You will never get them all , but this should increase your odds . Especially if you're digging alot of targets like this in a particular area if the tides are not in your favor.
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Thank you, so much valuable information.. the sand condition you describe is very similar as to what is at that beach.. So I might well have left something nice behind, if someone goes to visit St Andrews State Park, it's at the low water mark, 40 paces north from the left walkway where the pelican was sitting.. ;)
 
My scoop is heavy and I am Old, fat and Lazy. Too much work to carry the scoop and even more work to drag it. So I bought a "Tool Lasso" and hang the scoop upside down from my belt. the end of the handle does drag the sand but having the weight on my belt is a heck of a lot easier on the body than carrying or dragging.
 
georgeinsc said:
My scoop is heavy and I am Old, fat and Lazy. Too much work to carry the scoop and even more work to drag it. So I bought a "Tool Lasso" and hang the scoop upside down from my belt. the end of the handle does drag the sand but having the weight on my belt is a heck of a lot easier on the body than carrying or dragging.
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Nice idea, why work harder?! After all, this is supposed to be a fun hobby, not labour ;)
 
The tones should have been a tell..... as well as SIZE. BIG.... often means its a LEAVERIGHT there.:laughing: Im looking for gold.......and it dont sound like a can. Many of times ive had other guys i hunt with say .... wow i got a deep target come check it. Swing the coil.... HIGH TONE... leaverright ... and lets go find some gold. Its been said before....for the most part we are hunting gold rings out there. Will i leave something i might have wanted....... sunglasses, gopro... watch who knows. SIZE matters in this case.
 
Definitely need long handle scoops and a good assist handle to lift heavy wet sand and break the ground suction.
 

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Hey George - Do you find that carrying the scoop on your side gets in the way of swinging , arms , etc ?
 
dewcon said:
The tones should have been a tell..... as well as SIZE. BIG.... often means its a LEAVERIGHT there.:laughing: Im looking for gold.......and it dont sound like a can. Many of times ive had other guys i hunt with say .... wow i got a deep target come check it. Swing the coil.... HIGH TONE... leaverright ... and lets go find some gold. Its been said before....for the most part we are hunting gold rings out there. Will i leave something i might have wanted....... sunglasses, gopro... watch who knows. SIZE matters in this case.
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That's what SHE said... ;)
 
Seaking406 said:
That's the one tool I don't have, a sand scoop on a pole.. I don't know if it was a deep target or not (suggesting junk or a can) because the hole kept filling up preventing me from getting down with my spade.

I kept the coil just above the water and then underwater and I think I remember it being the same signal strength.. I don't know enough about the NOX 600 or tide water hunting to know what to make of this. I will have to check this out with more detail next time it happens up here in the Great White North.. ;)

Thanks for all the info provided by all the respondents.

Cheers
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I've hunting around Pineapple Willy's and had the same problem. I was told by the maintenance man at Sunbird condos there's old pileings where I was having my trouble?
 
I did a lot of stuff. As long as my xcal does not disc it out 2 go pro cameras, A $395 retail watch that i have been wearing for almost 4 years A watch that my wife wears. Different strokes for different folks and i am different. LOL



dewcon said:
The tones should have been a tell..... as well as SIZE. BIG.... often means its a LEAVERIGHT there.:laughing: Im looking for gold.......and it dont sound like a can. Many of times ive had other guys i hunt with say .... wow i got a deep target come check it. Swing the coil.... HIGH TONE... leaverright ... and lets go find some gold. Its been said before....for the most part we are hunting gold rings out there. Will i leave something i might have wanted....... sunglasses, gopro... watch who knows. SIZE matters in this case.
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I swing with my right hand and carry the scoop on my left side. I actually frequently just rest my left arm on the scoop.

I will post pictures tomorrow.



KOB said:
Hey George - Do you find that carrying the scoop on your side gets in the way of swinging , arms , etc ?
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Sod said:
I've hunting around Pineapple Willy's and had the same problem. I was told by the maintenance man at Sunbird condos there's old pileings where I was having my trouble?
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I would think that pilings (wood or concrate/steel?) would be a wide target footprint? I found a buried 50 gallon steel drum full of concrete on a beach last year.. couldn't figure out why it might be there in the middle of the public beach.. turns out it used to be one of the beach volley ball net post footings.. Made for some interesting targets ;)
 
I use the werner tool lasso and belt clip that can be found at a lot of hardware stores. I found mine in the ladder section. It works for me. Just tighten the belt a bit.



Bayoutalker said:
George, can you post a pic of your rig? If like to see how you are doing that.

Cliff
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georgeinsc said:
I use the werner tool lasso and belt clip that can be found at a lot of hardware stores. I found mine in the ladder section. It works for me. Just tighten the belt a bit.
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What a nice piece of kit to have for any use.. I'll have to keep my eyes open for one of those. Thanks for sharing!

Cheers
 
Thanks George. I've looked online but so far none of the stores here have them in stock. I guess I'll have to order one.

Cliff
 
1. Dig faster
2. Get a big scoop
3. Quickly dump the 1st or even 2nd scoop of sand and assume the target will be in the next bite.
4. Quickly move around to the opposite side of the hole and dig there as sometimes you are pushing the target away from you.
5. Give up and pray that it wasn't a Rolex!
 
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