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Since this is my first column, I will begin with a little personal history
about my experiences as a water hunter. As most of you know, my name is
Ozzie Osborne, not the famous singer, but we share the same name. I have
been detecting a little over twenty years now, and about 18 of those years
have been spent in the water, which is fitting, since I was born on Tampa
Bay, and grew up hearing stories of Gaspirilla the pirate. I have used just
about every brand of detector there is for the water, and some where not
really water machines, but modified land units. I mainly hunt the beaches here at my home area in
North West Florida, and along the gulf coast. I have hunted beaches as far
away as Newfoundland Northern Canada, the west coast of the U.S., and some
beaches overseas. All have been a great learning experience, as well as
rewarding in the finds made at each of them. I hope to pass on some of the
things that I have learned about salt water hunting in this column, and that
it will encourage and inspire some folk that have had difficulty in hunting
salt water, and impart some helpful knowledge to the folks that want to hunt
salt water on a regular basis. I will be more than glad to answer any
questions that anyone may have about salt water hunting, either in the column
or via Email. I will be posting pictures of finds, tools, and people who hunt
salt water when available. The pics in today's column are finds that have come
from right here on my home beaches in Panama City Beach, Fl. The biggest problem with salt water is false
signaling. Many folks have just flat given up hunting salt water because of
this problem. These signals are caused by naturally occurring pockets of black
sand, which most of the time is nearly invisible to the naked eye. A lot of
it is caused by tiny flakes of iron which break off of items such as
50 gallon steel drums that were once used as trash barrels on beaches
everywhere. Some is from iron pipes or plates of iron objects that were
discarded far out at sea. Many of these particles are no larger than one
eighth inch square, but will give off a large signal due to there leaching,
or bleeding out into the wet sand. If you ever hunt a salt water beach near the
waters edge, and you dig up an iron object such as a nail, or another rusty
object, if you look closely, you will note a brown stain surrounding the
object. This is visual evidence of leaching or bleeding, After removal of a
rusty iron object, you will sometimes still receive a signal. This is caused
by the remaining hint of iron that has bled into the surrounding sand. The
further out you go, or by moving out into deeper water, the less problem you
will have with iron flake, since they seem to sink deeper, and are brought to
the surface mainly at the waters edge. There is no cure for this problem, and
the only units that do not seem to be affected by this is a pulse induction
unit. But with a pulse, you generally have little or no discrimination.
Turning up the amount of discrimination on a vlf/tr unit will eliminate some
of these signals, but you run the risk of losing small gold rings, and deeper
large rings. I have used a Fisher 1280 - X for the last six years, and
average about two hours of hunting a day. That last sentence
contains the secret of my success. When I first started using the 1280 - X I
was not really impressed with it. But I knew that the main reason for my
thinking this way was my own unfamiliarity with the unit. If you are new to
the hobby, or are switching to water hunting, this is the secret of success.
You will hear this from land and water hunters alike. My fisher is now like an
extension of my eyes and ears. There is no substitute for practice, but you
must also try to make a mental note of the sounds and readings that your unit
gives you on each and every target. Familiarity breeds contentment, and also
brings the gold. Like some land hunters, I also keep a log of the things that
I find, where I find them, and the conditions of the sea and weather. Hope
you enjoy the pictures, and that they will give some encouragement to hang in
there. Gold is where you find it. Good hunting, Ozzie.----OO
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