Never noticed this post until now. I live in Salem too. Roger, I think we met sometime last year on a beach in Swampscott.
Anyway, I hunt about 50% beach and 50% dirt but have been focusing my dirt time on locating permissions. Hit some virgin permissions in Newbury and Amesbury earlier this summer - very, very good. Got 2 CT sites to hit once the vegetation subsides.
Beach track record in this area has been dismal. Have hunted the !!!! out of Wingah in the past 2 years - nothing but clang. Either the beaches around here totally s*** or I just don't know what I'm doing. Swampscott, Lynn, Nahant, Beverly, Magnolia, Gloucester, Marblehead and Rockport. Been to pretty much all the available beaches in those towns at one point or another. Nothing significant to show for it.
Would be very interested in finding someone else to hunt with.