SEASONAL CONSIDERATIONS:

see also:
reading the beach
water hunting with the explorer
who dares wins
water 3
formulate a plan
mineralization
wetsand

SUMMER is when most of the targets are being lost. The water is warmer and generally calm. These fresh targets stay where they are lost (shallow) in the water until the water gets rough from a local or faroff storm. This is the time to hunt the swimming areas. The easiest and most efficient way is to wait until a low tide exposes the swimming zones. Walking on wet sand is a lot easier and quicker than working in waist deep water.

To find fresh targets, note the depth or tide on the last weekend during the warmest part of the day. Example, a (+) 3.5 (feet) at 1:30PM. All we need is one foot less to hunt the 'Grandma Zone', where mama and grandma walk the babies. OR 2 feet less to hunt the adult/big kid zone. Be careful, minus tides may enable you to get beyond the adult zone. Note that these zones change a little everyday. Watch for dark streaks indicating surfacing layers. Check above them.

WATCHES: In surfing areas, in summer, watches are the prevalent target. Surfers constantly lose them because the pins holding the bands on corrode. To prevent losing you watch, replace the pins every six months. Watches move around and can be anywhere. They can even be moving with the surf when you detect them.

I dug a watch in fast moving surf last summer. It had an expansion band which enabled it to come off easily. That's all I saw of it. The fast moving current stripped it off the edge of my scoop's basket just as I saw it for the first and last time. At least it didn't look like an expensive watchband. The solution is to bring up a target when the water is slack or at minimal velocity.

FALL is my favorite time to detect the beaches. Usually the targets are still there, no storms have hit yet. The minus tides switch over to the afternoon which exposes the maximum amount of swimming area. Most people are back to work or school so there are no crowds and the weather is great.

WINTER has the most potential for a bonanza. If you have 3 storm frontal passages in conjunction with high tides within two to three weeks, enough beach sand will be stripped away to uncover a lot of treasure! This happens about once every other year in Southern California. Last year's El Nino was a great example (See Story).

SPRING is the slow time. In order to do well you must hunt creatively. Try going where no one else has been on the dry sand. Check the winter berms that are put up on some beaches for protection. Watch for the rare exposed layer to bring up targets on the swimming areas.