Your thoughts on water detecting ??

I live in Florida & used to Scuba but my health forced me to stop. I am now strictly doing my detecting inland, or on Florida beaches. I detect with a CZ5 & a CZ3D & do not get into water, other than an the water line, sometimes. What are your thoughts on detecting in water , let's say knee deep in the Atlantic/Gulf, & up to waist deep in inland lakes ??

P.S. Yes, I know , I would need a waterproof detector.

2 part question so 2 part answer.

1. Florida beaches...actually get yourself some tide tables and get to the beach when the tide is going out and hunt it on the way out and a CZ excells and imagine just as fruitville as hunting shallow water with less stress on the body are my thoughts.

2. Inland lakes etc. freshwater can produce a lot of clad and even silver coins if you find an old beach along with gold and silver jewelry, need a strong long handled scoop as it takes a lot of stress and eat your wheaties as I always equated 1 hr in the water is like 3 hrs on land. Heck did it for years and never owned a water unit just an older hipmout Tesoro and tucked the box in my waders. Run disc. low and dig all and it won't be long before a nice gold ring ends up in the scoop.Problem in my area from 20 years ago freshwater hunting didn't have all the hunters as its caught on and now most are hunted hard and lots of stress on the legs due to spring filled darn cold water and reason for the waders.

In both case have to arrive at daybreak before the crowds or wait till the end of the season.

I have hunted some at the beach at low tides & wondered that with the sink rate at water's edge , how successful it would be,,, or even if it was worthwhile, to hunt in knee deep water at the beach. Seems like any gold rings would already have sunk too deep, even though my detectors are great at depth. I have had very good high pitch signals in the mushy wet sand, & I can dig, & dig , & dig , & it seemed like I couldn't dig fast enough to find the target ; like it keeps sinking further ,,, & it finally goes away all together.

Profitable.

Heres a tip for fla. beaches...get down on one knee and look for the low spot in the dry sand as thats where a lot of goodies end up..as far as the sink rate goes all depends on the waves as a gold ring can be laying on the surface or a foot deep...no accurate way I know of calculating....on N.J. beaches more than one homeless person in A.C. area finds goodies right on top after the water recedes...just eyeballing...for lunch or perhaps an alcohol fix...

Thanks for all the info & tips. I will have to do some shallower water detecting with one of my CZ's.

As per Toms beach dvd, in the ocean surf, anything you find is going to be in shallow hard pan area, which is invisble. If you find one target check the area good for more and .....get the dvd.
And yes, water hunting is A LOT different than land and in most cases more difficult.

Great thread I am mainly (95%) a land hunter, but, have recently gotten into the beach thing after a buddy spurned me on. I use a CZ-3D (1021 model) that was calibrated personally by Tom. The CZ has given me my BEST land hunting year (2011) so far, however, decided to take my buddy's advice and try some water detecting until the heat & vegetation dies out in the Fall. I tried using the CZ on the beach since I heard it was phenomenal, but, couple of issues with that;

1. It was only my first time using the CZ on the beach. After putting it in salt mode & trying to ground balance, it didn't do anything. I just 'fiddled' around with it till it was 'good enough' & hunted the wet sand up to ankle deep in the water & it seemed to work fine after that.

2. I really DIDN'T enjoy hunting with the CZ near the water for fear of getting the control box wet. What with the waves, water splashes, etc., I just didn't want to take a gamble like that with what has so far been a PERFECT machine for me.

So, as good as the CZ-3D might be in the wet sand & surf, methinks a water machine is a MUCH better idea for my situation. My buddy is letting me use his Fisher 1280 Aquanaut & here's how that's going...

1. GREAT machine. Simple turn-on-and-go unit. A PI machine, which means - dig it ALL. Pretty darned deep.

2. When I do something, I like to jump right in (pun intended), so, I have been hunting waist deep in the ocean. Guess what??? I have a newfound respect for water hunters - it is difficult hunting past knee deep water. Pinpointing is a challenge, swinging the coil is a challenge, mastering the scoop is a challenge, heck, even staying upright on two legs is a challenge

3. My buddy can hunt neck deep with no problem, but, not my speed - WAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAY too much work for me, lol. Navel high for me tops. I want enjoyment, not physical labor when I go out.

I would have to agree with Dan-PA 110% that 1 hour in the water IS most certainly equivalent to 3 hours on land. My first 'real' beach hunt with my buddy and I scored a silver ring (in waist hight water) & gold (a 14k necklace eyeballed on the boardwalk), so, talk about beginners luck. My buddy looked like he wanted to drown me in the sea

I really enjoy beach hunting now. I'm gonna be purchasing either a Tesoro Sand Shark, a Whites Dual Field or a CZ-21. I'm leaning towards the 21 due to the fact it has some discrim. capability. Which would you guys go with? Tom, appreciate your two cents on this one.

With the right equipment & some more practice, I think my future Summer's are going to be seeing a lot more surf & sea



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 07/26/2011 02:16AM by njnydigger.

I wish to impart my 40 years of hunting.........water hunting inclusive.........to you.....in a simple post/thread; However, it would take substantial time. A professional one-on-one training seminar.......and it could be done.

In short............. the 1280X is not a PI unit. It is a low freq VLF unit......single freq unit. This is to say it's 'gold dead'......especially to smaller gold items. I would recommend you get your hands on a good (used) CZ-20. If you can test a CZ-21 (try before you buy).......that would be a major 'plus'. If you are serious about water hunting...... I would primarily recommend the 8" coil.......especially if you are not a body-builder. The 10.5" is great....... but hydrodynamic drag is substantial.

Remember.............once you pinpoint your target in the dark water. . . . do NOT move the coil.......until you move your big toe on one of your feet...to 'touch' the heal of the coil. THEN you can move your coil away. Your toe now points to the pinpoint spot....ready to bring the sand scoop in on this location.

I haven't been beach hunting with my CZ3d, yet . My old CZ5 does well at Fl. beaches so I am sure the 3D will, too. My biggest problems are not with my detectors , but my back & neck. I cannot hunt very long til I am hurting. I will try to hunt more in the shallow surf next time.

I do water hunting a year. The water hunting not easy task. I hunt freshwater lakes and rivers. The water can not transparent. Usualy you didn't see where is the coil. I train pinpointing on field with closed eyes, very useful.
In rivers the backwash makes it difficult to work. In lakes If the the weather is windy the big waves push your body away.
I use dry suit in cold water (18 c>) and wetsuit in the warmer water (neopreme shorty or shorty+full neopreme suit)
The body is rapidly cooled during the water. If you're cold you can not concentrate.
In dyr suit the problem is you need to pee. Must go out to shore. In neopreme shorty is not problem
I use lead belt, it help to hold the position, fight against the waves and water buoyancy.
Any machine can be started. Putting the electronic in a waterproof box and go!
Is it worth the invested energy.

We usually hunt in pairs, safer and more fun.

Hello timmysys, tell us more about your finds, detector that you use,the ones your friends use, your waterproof box. Thanks.

Can anyone guess what their find ratios are for...

1 - Dry sand
2 - Wet sand
3 - Shallow (< 3 feet water)

... on salt water ocean beaches?

Im guessing here.... but at the towel line i think Tom said there is a 50 to 1 .... wet 30 to 1 and water 10 to 1. Been awhile since i watched his DVD so those may be off.

Dew

Hmmmm.............I recommend watching the DVD again!

ozzie Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Hello timmysys, tell us more about your finds,
> detector that you use,the ones your friends use,
> your waterproof box. Thanks.

I only fresh water hunter, there is no sea in the area.

My story has two parts.

The first part, when i think i buy the expensive machine I will be a water harvester with it.

I bought an used blue Excalibur 1000. (produced in 2005?)
This stood in the corner for years. Hardly used, it was never serviced and the tube wasn't opened ever. opened.
I bought a new battery pod, because the old one was dead.
I have used a couple of months. I bought a WOT coil and I made the coils are changable with underwater connectors.

It's worked perfectly. I enjoy the hunting with it. Not easy to learn how it works. Hard to hear the differences in sound.
I found many stuff with it, but my buddies finds a lot. They are pros.

Last month, the machine has worked improperly. The machine produced a lot of false signals. The basic tone is uncertain.

I checked and saw the O-rings that are full of cracks.
I opened the tube and the loaded silica gel was wet. But water is not nowhere to be seen inside.

I replace all the O-ring, smeared with silicone grease. Dried the main board for a week.

Unfortunately does not work perfectly still.
I will send to full service and inspection.

I was about 15 times with water with excal, found lot of coins, silvers, and some gold (6 ring 11 gr 14k 3,5g 9k)





Excal story ended.
-----------------
part two: I need a backup machine. Now is the high season.

This is my old unit. It is now lying in the closet or 10 years ago. I took it and I built a water machine.

I use this machine now. 14 years old Hunter home made metal detector boxed in food container, fitted Fisher f2 concentic coil with extended cable and an old broken headpones attached. I put the box in backpack, the lid sealed with silicone grease. Simple but works.
Not a deep machine, a typical coin pick 20 centimeter in air.

On one occasion, the water infiltrated into the box, filled with water 1/3, the machine stopped. I thought it over, but dried out, re-worked.





Last 3 hunt with it.







three hunt, 53 gr gold.
Of course, it is luck.
I hunted the same place four times wih Excal, i found 2 gold rings here and some silver.
This is a small lake beach. approximately 230x100 feet.This simple machine is more effective than the expensive. At least at this area.

Timmysys