The Pendulum Cast is also known as the Underhand cast. It is a soft cast primarily used for placing the fly under low overhanging bushes. The cast creates an inverted loop that lies under the rod tip and makes the fly travel like a pendulum. This cast can be very useful on small streams. When the cast is under branches, the loop will often hit the branch. However, since the fly is underneath the loop, it will often fall onto the targeted water.

One advantage of the Pendulum Cast is that the end of the fly line can kick upwards with an abrupt stop once the line straightens. An advanced technique is to make an underhand cast on the back cast. This forces the loop to pop upwards, followed with an overhead delivery on the forward cast.

Procedure

Think of the pendulum cast as a variation of the side cast but softer. The rod is kept with the rod hand vertical but low. The back cast is low and to the side. The swinging movement of the rod tip is in a saucer configuration in which the forward and backward swing has a small upward arc at the end of the stroke.

The result should be an upside down loop or inverted loop. The smaller the dip, the tighter the loop.