Written by the TreasureGuide for the exclusive use of treasurebeachesreport.blogspot.com.
I'm surprised by how few detectorists that I saw this morning after giving an upgrade.
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| Sea Glass and Fossil Tooth Found Yesterday in Shell Piles While Detecting |
Even though I was seeing erosion, it didn't seem productive to me. Then a couple of days ago that changed.
I was out this morning and the beaches looked pretty much the same as yesterday. There is a bar right in front of many of the beaches Treasure Coast beaches from Vero to Stuart. You can see an example of that in one of the video clips below.
There are people who hunt sea glass and fossils on the beach and who write asking about that. As I said yesterday, I'd recommend Seagrape Trail and Ambersands for that type of thing right now.
Even if you don't hunt sea glass, it is one of those kinds of things to watch. It will tell you something about how different types of items are moving.
So much of metal detecting is being at the right place at the right time. Some of that is luck, but some of it is knowing where to be.
There is simply too much beach to detect. You have to pick your spots. Some spots are good sometimes and at other times the same spot won't be any good at all.
Over time you can learn where some of the good spots are. You'll run across them from time to time if you keep at it.
When you find a good spot, remember where it is, and remember what it looked like and what the conditions were like when it was good.
A good spot isn't defined by one find. What I call a good spot has multiple good targets. It is a place where good things accumulate and become available from time to time.
Good spots reoccur. They might appear seasonally or whenever the conditions are right. They can be in the water or on the beach. (I'm not talking about old historic sites on dry land here.)
When you find a good spot, take a good look at the level of sand, rocks and any other signs or clues. You might describe the place and situation in your records. That would be helpful.
It can be difficult to identify some good spots. You might have hunted a good spot several times and found nothing, because the good spot wasn't good at that particular time.
I know that a lot of people give up on a location or part of the beach because they've never found anything there. That can be a mistake.
Even on good treasure beaches there are small areas where good targets tend to appear more often than any other place on that beach. It is good to know where those good spots are, but you shouldn't quit looking at other places.
There are times to buzz right to the known hot spots, but there are times to scout around and check other areas that haven't been good for you before.
Because there is too much beach to cover, a big part of metal detecting is making good use of your time. Use your knowledge to hit the right areas at the right time. You can't tell for sure, but it is a matter of increasing the probabilities by wisely selecting the areas where you will spend your time and how you will spend it.
You will make mistakes. Sometimes you'll choose the wrong area and the wrong time. Just try to learn something from every outing and learn from your mistakes as well as your successes.
There are times to grid every inch and times to run a loose pattern or just scout around.
The other day I showed the first cob that I found on the 30th of May. I didn't find it real quick.
Cobs have been scarce at the beach where it was found lately. I found it about 20 minutes into my hunt, which is pretty typical for me.
More often than not, if I'm going to find a cob it will be right around 20 minutes into the hunt, and almost always between 15 and 30 minutes into the hunt.
Of course, there are times when it comes quicker or takes a lot longer. My quickest cob find was about three swings after turning my detector on. That amazed me, and is certainly in no way typical.
The twenty minutes thing happens so often, that I wondered why it happens so often. Probably it is just coincidence, but there might be another answer. I generally know of one hot spot on every beach that I hunt very often. Those hot spots are usually a little way from the beach walkover or entrance. (I can think of one exception.) It therefore takes me a little way to work my way to the hot spot. And if it is not too far, I tend to work the area leading up to that spot more slowly than if it is farther. If it is farther I tend to move more quickly until I reach the hot spot. The result is that it usually takes me a little time to hit the hot spot. That might at least partly account for how often I find my first cob of the day 15 to 30 minutes into the hunt.
Don't get me wrong. If you don't find something in your first hour or so, don't give up. Just today I struck out in my first hour or so and eventually found a place that was productive. I might easily have given up too soon, but it was a good thing I kept going.
Anyhow, cobs are being found. I don't know why I didn't see more detectorists.
Here is a video clip of the beach this morning.
Notice the bar out in front of the beach. You can see the water washing over it right in front of the shells.
I'll try to clean up the cob I showed the other day and if I can see much detail will show it again.
The surf should be 3 - 4 feet today, decreasing a bit the next two days.
I didn't see much, if any, additional erosion today, but no filling yet either.
I'm sticking with my 2 detecting conditions rating for now.
Happy hunting,
TreasureGuide@comcast.net
