Need help on Tidal River shoreline detecting!

[Schuder3]

Do any of you hunt relics in tidal rivers? I live in an area where a large river dumps into the Chesapeake Bay. I have searched its shores for along time now and have found many treasures without a detector. Do any of you know of any success in hunting in the shallow waters below cliffs and banks where old houses and plantations have set or is it just better in the sand directly below and before relics make it to the water. I have not a clue on where to start as far as the water. Big coil, small coil, What programs are best, Fast recovery speed or slow recovery speed? Anything for starting a plan would be helpful. I do have a boat and I have an equinox 800, No water proof headphones yet! I would think hard bottom would be better than soft? Thanks!

 

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[CASPER-2]

one guy you can check out
https://www.youtube.com/user/aquachigger/videos

 

[Bodkin]

I hunt exclusively in the tidal rivers in the winter here in Maine with the 800. It's a little different here than VA hunting but the concept is the same. I look for the areas with hard bottom, crevices in rocks, etc. I found that I have to rebalance the 800 often because of the differences in mineralization in areas, fresh to salt water in areas and the larger deposits of "stuff" in some areas over others. I also find myself hunting in the Park 1 and Beach 2 settings the most.
As CASPER-2 says, check out the "aquachigger" on youtube. He's closer to your neck of the woods and is in the water ALOT. Oh, 6' coil almost always for me here. You'll have fun. Good luck!

 

[OBN]

Do any of you hunt relics in tidal rivers? I live in an area where a large river dumps into the Chesapeake Bay. I have searched its shores for along time now and have found many treasures without a detector. Do any of you know of any success in hunting in the shallow waters below cliffs and banks where old houses and plantations have set or is it just better in the sand directly below and before relics make it to the water. I have not a clue on where to start as far as the water. Big coil, small coil, What programs are best, Fast recovery speed or slow recovery speed? Anything for starting a plan would be helpful. I do have a boat and I have an equinox 800, No water proof headphones yet! I would think hard bottom would be better than soft? Thanks!

I would start with the stock coil, I use the excalibur and have several coils, 95% the time the 10 inch, the other the 7.5, Have 5.5 inch also but one of the few coils I rarely need...the big coils I use only at the ocean beach's when wanting to cover larger areas. I hunt the Northern Chesapeake Bay, a few of the rivers. For me research and locating high traffic areas has been the best pay off. But the more traffic the more trash too.

 

[Schuder3]

Thanks Casper-2, Bodkin and OBN for the good advice. I've seen aquachigger before, just have not seen him in tidal waters but I will certainly check it out again. The minelab settings are good to here about and coil size. Thanks again, Rick

 

[Megalodon]

I used to think eroded areas were always best - and I still like eroded river and stream banks. But as soon as we form an opinion like that, we find some exceptions. I used to be part of a team that pulled a 300' seine to sample juvenile fish. We looked for areas where the channel was close to shore because we knew they were good habitats. We also found that they were very hard to seine because they were old landings with hundreds of years of pilings broken off below the surface - and the pilings would catch the seine if the current was too fast. When we broke for lunch, I would walk the shore and started finding coins - two Virginia half pennies the first time and usually old coppers. So I started bringing a metal detector and had some luck, but not as much as just walking and looking. Some of the landings do have a lot of iron. There is an old steamship landing a couple of hundred yards from where I'm sitting - but there is lots of iron and I haven't found any old coins - although it has been heavily hunted.

I like to go out on blowout tides. If hunting the western shore of our rivers, a day of wind from the w-nw and at least 15 will give a wider beach to hunt - for both fossils and relics/coins. The reverse is true for the eastern side. I walked 5 miles along the Bay during yesterday's blowout, but without a detector - fossil hunting only. If I found evidence of old relics, then I'd bring a detector. I know of some old homes up on the cliffs - but the routes are so choked with briars that I don't know how to reach them from the water.

I think river sites are just as varied as land sites. One of my most fun surprises was a pile of flints at an old landing. I'm guessing a cask of flints fell and broke open during unloading from England in the late 1600's to mid 1700's.

Good luck!

 

[OBN]

I love those blow out tides of the Bay also...this past monday..