[{"data":1,"prerenderedAt":-1},["ShallowReactive",2],{"learn-card-the-dead-drift":3},{"id":4,"title":5,"applyCta":6,"authorId":10,"body":11,"cardType":43,"description":17,"difficulty":44,"discipline":45,"editorId":10,"extension":47,"glossaryRefs":48,"hook":51,"meta":52,"navigation":53,"path":54,"publishedAt":55,"readingSeconds":56,"regionTags":57,"relatedCards":58,"safetyDisclaimerRequired":60,"seo":61,"status":62,"stem":63,"track":64,"updatedAt":55,"version":44,"__hash__":65},"learn_cards\u002Flearn\u002Fcards\u002Fthe-dead-drift.md","The Dead-Drift",{"label":7,"action":8,"target":9},"See it live on the Provo","open_water","provo-river",null,{"type":12,"value":13,"toc":39},"minimark",[14,18,21,29,36],[15,16,17],"p",{},"A trout in a feeding lane sees thousands of natural insects float past every hour. They drift the way the current carries them — no swimming, no twitching — just food-shaped debris moving at the speed of the water around it.",[15,19,20],{},"A dead-drift is a cast that mimics that. Your fly travels downstream at exactly the speed of the surface current with no pull from your line.",[15,22,23,24,28],{},"The thing that breaks a dead-drift is ",[25,26,27],"strong",{},"drag",". Your fly line, sitting on faster or slower water than your fly, tugs the fly off its natural path. The fly speeds up, slows down, or — worst — leaves a tiny V-wake behind it. To a trout, that wake reads as \"not food.\"",[15,30,31,32,35],{},"You fix drag by ",[25,33,34],{},"mending",": lifting the line off the water and re-placing it upstream of the fly. A clean mend buys you another two or three feet of clean drift before drag returns.",[15,37,38],{},"Most fly-fishing days come down to one question: how long can you keep your fly drifting like nothing's attached to it.",{"title":40,"searchDepth":41,"depth":41,"links":42},"",2,[],"technique","1",[46],"fly","md",[49,27,50],"dead-drift","mend","The most-talked-about cast in fly fishing. Here's what it actually means and why it matters.",{},true,"\u002Flearn\u002Fcards\u002Fthe-dead-drift","2026-05-07","90",[],[59],"reading-a-riffle",false,{"title":5,"description":17},"published","learn\u002Fcards\u002Fthe-dead-drift","building","Jfr3YulXYevrUKjQPxehvPqGWN5Zooqhvy9rcK33fYw"]