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We're howling at the moon, because it's a full moon and I know there's no drift tonight. Hi, I'm Mickey Anderson with this week's drift report.
Drift is a word that's used to describe insects moving in the water. There's three different types of drift. The first is behavioral drift. This is the most predictable drift. It happens under the cover of darkness so on a full moon, they don't get that cover and they won't move, so fish don't get that bonus feeding time. Normally it happens an hour before sunrise and an hour after sunset.
Now constant drift means there's always something in the water. Whether it's grasshoppers, ants, beetles, crickets, they all fall in from the surface, and sometimes drown so you can fish those dry fly patterns under the water. Or insects just lose their grip on the bottom and they'll tumble free along the bottom until they grab a hold of something and climb back under a rock.
And then there's catastrophic drift. Catastrophic drift is caused by something knocking them off the rock. Whether it's you, a cow, or something walking across the stream tipping over a rock, or the fluctuation in flows, it changes the current and washes them out from under the rocks.
Hopefully understanding drift will help you catch a few fish like this on your next full moon.
