9/14/18 Report - Beach Conditions On The Treasure Coast After the High Surf. The Sure Way To Make Good Finds.

Written by the TreasureGuide for the exclusive use of treasurebeachesreport.blogspot.com.

Beach Early This Morning.

Not much changed since yesterday.  I didn't see as many beaches today as I did yesterday, so I could have missed something somewhere.

I'm not much of a detectorist anymore, and haven't been for quite a few years now.  Too many responsibilities and other things got in my way.   I don't think I've spent much more than a dozen hours detecting (on the beach, I should have said) all year, and that is much less than I spent in a typical week at one time.

Anyhow, I did go out to check around again today.  You'll be much more productive if you can be out there a lot.

Beach Early This Morning.

The beach and the surf looked very much like they did yesterday.

There were some shells on one beach today.

Part of Shell Line This Morning.

Yesterday there were some decent size rocks that washed up or otherwise appeared on the front beach.  Here is one that I photographed yesterday.

One Rock That Washed Up Yesterday.

I did get a few minutes of detecting time in yesterday.  Here are a couple things I found.

Couple New Finds.

The silver chain is broken, and the other slice of silver, presumably a coin, is unidentifiable.

I had some other finds, but haven't cleaned and photographed them yet.

I would bet that there will be a few cob finds, but they will be very few and far between.

I've seen this kind of beach produce better in the past, but I didn't get a good sample - just a few brief checks.

There are always exceptions.  I've mentioned the lady that found an escudo the first time she ever used a metal detector.  It happens - but not often. There are skilled detectorists who have been detecting the Treasure Coast beaches for a along time who never found one a gold escudo.  It takes a lot of time for most people.

A single find tells you next to nothing.  It takes more than one data point to derive good useful generalizations.  Some generalizations are better than others, and if you keep studying, you'll probably have to change your mind every once in a while as you learn that some things do not actually work as you once thought they did.

One of the problems with doing a blog on a daily basis is that the posts are relatively short.  A single post can not include a discussion of the many factors that are usually involved.

People will often tell you to check the dips in front of erosion.  That isn't bad advice.  In fact it is good advice, but it doesn't tell the whole story.

I've found treasure coins in a lot of different kinds of places - some locations seemed unlikely.   I've found them on mushy beaches, on top of the ledge just behind a cut, and at the high tide line with seaweed.  They have been found almost anywhere, but that doesn't mean that some places aren't more promising than others. The chances are much better in some locations than others.  It is a matter of probabilities.  If you spend your time where the chances are better, you're time will be spent more efficiently, and you'll find much more in the long run.

The more time you spend and the more ground you cover, the better your chances will be.  If you spend ten times the amount of time as someone else, you probably will find more, but there are people who can find more than other people even though they might spend only one tenth the amount of time.  That is skill.

Absolute numbers of good finds will be highly correlated with the amount of time spent.  The correlation will not be perfect though.  There are other factors, and some are very important.

The bottom line is, if you want to make a lot of good finds, spend a lot of time -  and while detecting observe, learn and improve your skill as much as you can.

Happy hunting,
TreasureGuide@comcast.net