Water hunting in river

[Haoleman]

I purchased a Minelab Excal 1000 a year ago and had a blast with it in Florida on the beaches. Only found one gold ring and a bunch of clad plus some 50 cal shells and bullets in the Pensacola area from WW II.
I live on a river in Minnesota and we have a car bridge that crosses right next to our property. I took the Excal into the river and got thousands of hits. I'm sure most are pop tops but I would guess a number of coins and possibly some rings. As the bottom is from 18" to 3 ' deep I am wondering the best way to explore this. The water is reasonably clear but the bottom is rocky and flows at a good clip. Any suggestions would really help as river hunting is a new adventure.

 

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[seger98]

I do alot of river detecting in Wi, but I generally avoid those faster moving waters. Sorry that ain't much of a help. Maybe if you started on both edges & worked in towards the center, If you were picking up anything good then keep going, What about doing it in a drought type year?


Chris

 

[JP]

Those 50 cals are fun to find in Florida aren't they?

My only experience with hunting in a river was where a wood bridge used to be and then was taken down to put a more modern one. I entered the watar and there were signals everywhere. Most of the signals were pieces of metal that came down fromt the construction of the new bridge. There were rocks everywhere and after 30 minutes I gave up. I gave up not only because of the junk metal everywhere but also because a huge snake swam up to me (me chest deep in water) to check me out. That was the first time I believe I walked on water.

Do people swim at the bridge or fish there or have a reason to be there? Before going through a lot of work to recover maybe very little, (but one never knows right?), you might want to check to see if it will be worth the work to move the rocks. I know one never knows. Example, I hunted at an area in Florida that I was told I wouldn't recover anything beyond pulltabs and I pulled out several wheats and a Walker half.

Good luck and let us know if you find some goodies there. There are others on this site that have recovered some really nice things in rivers; for example old guns, old coins, jewelry, US civil war items, etc. Hopefully they will jump in here and give some better advice.

 

[Haoleman]

Thanks for the info. Our river ( the south fork of the Root River) is mostly spring fed. I don't think it has ever gone dry. Except for floods, the level is constant. There is, however a possibility that if they do repairs on the dam this year that they will have to divert the river through the power plant which would make a 1/4 mile section almost dry. If that happens, I will be in it every day.

 

[MikeDahms]

I've never worked in a river/stream so mine are the ideas of an arm chair treasure hunter. I'm assuming you are in good physical shape and able to do heavy lifting. I assume you are curious as to what may be in the river. You stated that it is spring fed so its probably been used by people for a water source for many years. The old bottles alone could be worth looking for. If there really are a lot of targets consider dragging a strong magnet across the bottom to clean it up. Safety first. You may need a partner to assist you to make this project a success. The other treasure hunter can bring additional equipment and another brain. Best of luck, Mike.

 

[GuerillaBill]

You might want to try one of these
http://www.harborfreight.com/cpi/ctaf/Displayitem.taf?itemnumber=98447

It'll pull in the most interesting items from under the bridge, and not get the pull tabs.

Bill

 

[JoeinMemphis]

Just a thought, but if the water is flowing at "a good clip" what you are hearing is probably not pultabs, they would be too light to stay put. Just a thought. HH Joe

 

[FLauthor]

Find out if the county has a right of way on the bridge usually its 25 -30 feet from the center of the road or bridge. Some states have them and some don't. Got a rocky bottom with a thousand hits, look around for a 4 Inch Gold Dredge, get a suction dredge or a power jet but a suction works better in shallow water. When you get a hit, vacuum it up, if the coin isn't stopped in the riffles then keep a big sifting box on the back and have a wife or girlfriend clearing the rocks out as you work the hose. If a snake comes up, just suck him up and let the box cleaner know a mad snake is coming, lol. Dredging laws are probably pretty lax up there as the river will fill in any holes quickly.

 

[MikeDahms]

I like the dredge idea but would do some "prospecting" with a metal detector first. If you get a lot of good finds then a dredge might be worth it. A dredge would do a more complete job and might recover some natural gold as well. Also a partner with a dredge is a nice thing to find. It spreads out the cost and helps with the safety thing. Some girls just aren't that understanding. Best to all, Mike.