The ones that catch fish do. The bead itself doesn't truly have an "action" but in its path down the river, it sure as hell better seem natural.

Coley mentioned it already but, as a watcher, one of the keys to me seems to be the micro-currents mentioned earlier. The bead is one of the only techniques that can get completely pushed into the natural micro-currents and seams. Hence, the importance of its neutral bouyancy. Seems like the bead needs to be put in the right spot and then be allowed to find an even "more right" spot. I always think of the Sol Duc when it comes to this as we found numerous fish dropped into those boulder slots. The best way to get a hook in front of them is to allow the hook to wash its own way in there.

As Coley mentioned, with regard to the length of dead-drifting that can be done before another mend is required, a super-long single drift isn't necessarily required. All you really need is the dead-drift for the right 10 foot section(s) of water. You could make 1 cast, where you distrurb the natural drift of the bead 6 times, and still very effectively work the water. You can drag the line back up and then let it dead drift for another 15 feet, effectively working a different slot that what was worked 30 seconds before. I see this a lot with successful float fishermen, where they don't necessarily reel in and recast but will, instead, reel the float partially in and then allow it to take another pass down a fishy stretch. With the bead, you need to give it a few seconds and a few linear river feet to get down and start allowing it to find its own course.

-AP