The word, “drift” implies a slow movement. For me, it invokes the image of a leaf floating in a small current pushed and pulled by the water.
For many years, I allowed the line straightening out behind me to “pull” my rod into the starting position of the front cast. In retrospect, it was so inefficient – so wrong: I was using the line’s energy to reposition my rod – instead of loading it! It was such a hard habit to break.
“Drift” is yet another example of the many misnomers in fly casting instruction.
Whether on the back cast or the front cast, any movement of the rod tip after forming the loop in the direction of the cast robs the loop’s energy. The loop’s energy will pull the line (of the rod leg) taut instead of turning over more line (of the fly leg) – and loading the rod. It’s like making a roll cast without a solid anchor. Moreover, the longer the delay to reposition the rod, the more line and mass of the rod leg that the loop needs to pull taut. At some point, if the repositioning movement is too large or performed too late, instead of decreasing the loop’s energy, it creates slack.
When I am false casting with a fixed length of line, I don’t want to steal energy from my loop. I also don’t want slack.
After the moment I make my abrupt stop, I am dampening the rod tip trying to minimize the vibrations that cause waves in the rod leg of the loop – a.k.a. slack. In the act of dampening the rod, I am also (almost inadvertently or luckily) repositioning the rod for the next stroke.
Such is my drift now: a quick, compensatory movement to move the rod so that the rod tip does not continue to oscillate after the rod unloads. In other words, I am trying to rotate the bottom part of the rod into a position that allows the rod tip to remain in the same position it ended as the rod unloaded.
There is nothing slow about this movement.
I need my hand to cradle the cork softly to dampen the rod. Relaxed muscles react faster to counteract and absorb the vibrations of the rod than muscles that are fully contracted. This is why grip is so important to me.
Personally, I consider the dampening of my accuracy cast a part of my stroke – not a separate component or movement.
Once I have dampened the rod, I don’t move the rod. I am in the Top Resting Position or the Bottom Resting Position with my muscles relaxed – as much as possible. I am literally hanging out, waiting for the line to straighten. I am doing everything in my power and skill to avoid moving the rod between accuracy casts.
When I am false casting and shooting line, I am still trying to keep my rod still between casts. To shoot line, the rod must be rotated with more acceleration, and as a result, it unloads more. That means I need to dampen more. That larger repositioning of the rod to dampen the rod tip inherently creates a longer stroke.
And if movement of the rod is required in the direction of the cast, it should happen with the least amount of line in the rod leg of the loop. In other words, it must happen as soon as possible after the rod unloads.
After I accelerate the rod to a stop, my priority is dampening the rod tip. If I do a good job, most of the time, I don’t need to move my rod anymore – at least until the next stroke begins. I don’t think about drift anymore. Ironically, I’m trying to keep my rod as still as possible between casts.