Underhand Cast

For double handed Salmon casting, the Underhand cast was designed by a Swedish caster (Goran Andersson) to accommodate an economical casting technique when using what are effectively shooting heads. These shooting heads are very short fly lines which can be attached to a running line on your reel (via a loop to loop connection) allowing the angler to carry several different densities of line to cover any situation they may encounter during their fishing trip.

The Underhand casting technique, often used to cast these lines, is not too far removed from our well known Spey casting techniques, but with a few slight differences, as follows:

The rod tip is raised much higher on the initial lift, just leaving the leader and fly on the water.
A mirror image of this lift is produced in the back cast, making sure that the end of the fly line, in the D loop behind, does not actually touch the water. (only the leader and fly).
With the leader and fly only touching the water, a much longer leader than usual is required to assist with anchor grip to help make the cast more efficient. If a shorter leader is required then your pause time before delivering the cast should be longer.
As the name suggests, most of the work is done with the bottom hand, (underhand) and the top hand used as a simple guide.
The delivery of this cast is a much shorter stroke, with the rod tip stopping in a high position at the end of the forward stroke.

This cast is quite useful when the caster is presented with little room behind, as a good forward cast can still be produced whilst only creating a small D loop behind the caster. As long as this small amount of line in your D loop affords you enough casting weight to deliver the forward cast, then this can be achieved. So if you are making your own shooting heads, make sure they are going to load your rod correctly.

Things to be aware of when using the Underhand cast

You will find that fast action rods lend themselves better to this type of cast.
Although your stroke length is shorter, it must still be a progressive acceleration throughout.
As you are now shooting several yards of thin running line, managing this line during casting must become a consideration.