Question from Newbie

[JoAnne]

I am new to MD and have a question about hunting in water. How deep should you go? Ankle deep? Knee deep? I am assuming you go in the water because of the tides and currents. Would you hunt a fresh water lake the same way? I live on Lake Champlain and know of several beaches I would like to try but not sure if I need to go into the water. Once in the water how do you know if you have hit something. Do the signals read differently? About how far down should one dig? Doesn't the hole fill back in? Just curious. As you can see I know nothing about water hunting. Any information would be appreciated. JoAnne

[Steve in PR]

The short answer: As deep as you can.

Lake Champlain has no tides except for the yearly level change that is controlled by the amount of snow melt and rain it receives. Except for storm action, there is less of a chance that what falls in the water will make it onto the beach, except for the passsing of time.

My approach would be to observe where you see activity on the beach. How far out do the majority of the people go? Where do the tend to horse around? This is the area I would target.

The width of this area will vary because the lake level changes from year to year but, not by much.

Is there an area where they can dive?

The flat, dry sand beach sand areas might attract volleyball enthusiasts. A friend recently pulled a nice watch from the sand next to a net pole.

A lot of people like to do head stands in the water. That's about waist deep water. You can expect to find pocket change there.

If a person loses something in shallow water, there is a good chance they will recover it if the water is clear enough to see it.

A lot depends on the type of bottom you have in the lake. If it is sandy, gold will sink quickly into the sand. A squishy, muddy bottom will also hide things quickly. A hard clay layer either under the sand or mud will tend to stop things from sinking into it too deeply. Or, if there is no sand or mud on top, the clay will keep things close to the surface, making easy picking for snorkelers.

The ideal situation is a sandy beach with a layer of clay 6" below the surface. In that ideal circumstance I would hunt everywhere eventually, using a grid pattern. Pick landmarks on land and sweep slow. It might take several hunts to do a large area but it should be productive.

Work out from the beach. Once you start hitting quarters, stay at that depth, searching parallel to the beach. Pick some landmarks so you know what area you have already passed over the next time you return. These areas can be revisited later if they were productive, especially after a busy weekend.

I can't cut and paste here so things are a little jumbled.

Hope this helps.

[JoAnne]

Steve - thank you for that information. I am not sure what the area beaches might hold but I am going to give it a try. I am thinking I will go in the evenings. That way they should be pretty cleared out of beach goers. Wish me luck. Lets hope I find something that I can post on the finds page. JoAnne

PS Anyone else out there have any suggestions, tricks or ideas?

[bdahunter]

I am assuming that you have a land detector, therefore you should take precautions against a dunking that will ruin your detector. Not all detectors can go into the water but usually if you wrap the main housing with a plastic baggy and seal it with duct tape you will be okay for some water use. DO NOT submerge the main housing or your detecting will be over almost immediately.
Please post again indicating the type of machine you plan on using.

Cheers,

BDA
Excal 1000

[rip]

Originally Posted by JoAnne

Steve - thank you for that information. I am not sure what the area beaches might hold but I am going to give it a try. I am thinking I will go in the evenings. That way they should be pretty cleared out of beach goers. Wish me luck. Lets hope I find something that I can post on the finds page. JoAnne

PS Anyone else out there have any suggestions, tricks or ideas?

Hey Joanne ! not sure what detector you have but make sure its WATERPROOF ! Also do some research as there are many shipwreaks along the coast of all the great lakes !Good luck !

[JoAnne]

Sorry guys - I have a Bounty Hunter Tracker IV. I believe it is waterproof. I believe I read that in the literature (I am at work so can not check it now) If I am wrong please let me know. I know the main housing can not get wet but think the coil is ok to put in lake water. Thanks again for any information you can give me. (See how new I am - don't even know the answer to wether or not it is waterproof. LOL)

[bdahunter]

Hello Joanne:

Do not get the main housing of your TrackerIV wet. If you extend the shaft of your machine to maximum and wrap the housing with plastic (a ziplock bag works well) you can hunt to knee deep fairly easily and safely.
Unfortunately most finds will be in knee to neck deep water as that is where people tend to lose their rings and chains.
You don't have tides to push finds into shallow water but wave action on a lake the size of Champlain is a factor in pushing finds closer to shore as is ice.
I would try to work beaches that have a lot of use, face the prevailing wind (east side of the lake) and have a bottom that is fairly soft (that way items which are dropped are covered over quickly for you to find later). A gentle slope will give you more area to work. Sandy beaches where families make a lot of sand castles may yield rings that slip off in the process and sunbathing beaches with loose sand are good if you want to work the towel line.
You will be rewarded if you do a little research. Things to look for:
1) where do beach goers normally set up their towels and blankets
2) where do bathers normally congregate in the water that is where most of the drops will be and hopefully inshore from there so you can reach these finds
3) where did people used to go swimming in the old days, a lot of these swimming holes have mostly dried up and should be accessible to you now
4) check around areas where people congregate; picnic tables, under large shade trees with thick grass, around bonfires and check around stumps and large rocks at the back of the beach where somebody would set their jewellery if they were going swimming

It's a fun hobby and potentially profitable. You will be asked questions by people who are curious, trailed by kids who are bored and occassionally you may come home with something besides beer tops and pull tabs. Like this find of mine from a few weeks ago.

Happy Hunting,

BDA

[JoAnne]

Thank you for the information. I can only hope that I would be so lucky. Looking forward to trying my luck after work today. JoAnne

[bdahunter]

Keep an eye open for Champ! lol

[JoAnne]

LOL Now that is funny Wish I could see Champ. Then I would really have a story to tell. Just hope he does not eat my MD.