FleaFlickr02,

I've only done a little bit of drift fishing, but my experience was the same as described in Bill Luch's book about steelhead drift fishing. Just as the bait or lure shifts from drifting straight downstream and begins to swing across stream is when the majority of bites occur. That has also been my experience in fly fishing. I begin my cast with putting the fly across what I think is the zone, mending and creating slack while the fly sinks, and then just as the fly reaches its maximum depth and begins to swing across stream is when the majority of hits occur.

That said, I've had steelhead hit the moment my fly hit the water and on a long hang down and every point in between. But you did ask about where most of the takes occur, and that transition point is the place. I speculate that it has something to do with the dead drifting fly suddenly coming to life and moving against (across) the current instead of continuing the dead drift.

Sg