Saltwater Fly fishing Rod Rec

Bonefish - 7 or 8
Permit - 9
Bull reds - 9
Jacks/Full size tarpon - 11

Since you have a 7 already I’d jump to 10 for a second rod. If I was chasing larger tarpon it would probably be on a charter hire basis where they would have beefier sticks available to use when the 10 is outgunned

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Im fairly new to saltwater fly fishing, but want to start doing it more. I currently have a 7wt, but plan on buying a larger set up for annual trips to the keys and chandeleur islands. What do yall recommend for bonefish/permit/juvenile tarpon in florida or larger redfish/jacks here in louisiana? A 9wt or a 10wt?

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Unless you have a heaping amount of time on your hands I would give up on thinking about catching a permit on the long rod. Musky are said to be the fish of "10,000 casts". It won't take that many casts to catch a permit because in every trip you are lucky to have 3-4 real shots at one. You will see hundreds. Getting close enough and in the right direction is dam near impossible. I read somewhere once that it usually took somewhere around 200 hours on a suitable flat per permit. That's 200 hours of suitable tides and wind etc. Thats going to take a LONG time.

I spent nearly a year, fishing 2-8 hours almost daily, in a river in the Caribbean that was and still is LOADED with permit. I caught scads of Tarpon, bonefish, snook, cubrera snapper not to mention grouper and barracuda and jacks and I hooked exactly 2 permit and had maybe 25 show some interest in my offering. I gave it up. It was too much. I also learned how to chum the damned things over a reef and catch them by the boat load.....they ain't nothing but a pompano or a jack......so I was able to exact my revenge on them but those bastards had me obsessed for a long time when I could have been catching 30 pound snook as fast as I could get them to the boat. Unless one is just bound and damned determined to catch a permit on the long rod I wouldn't take it up....it is liable to become an obsession that is just as likely to go unfulfilled as not. I fished a 9 weight but an 11 weight wouldnt have been too much....the heavier rod will handle heavier line and heavier line is easier to cast long distances in high wind and with bigger tarpon patterns it is necessary. You could have a 100 weight rod and be undergunned for any Tarpon on about 50 pounds if the Tarpon decides it ain't coming to the boat....hell a stick of dynamite wont put one in the boat if it really is committed to avoiding the boat.


The keys and Miami have some big bonefish but most are around 3-5 pounds. They are FUN on an appropriately sized reel in 6-7 weight range. Appropriately sized because most 6-7 weight reels have a spool that isn't sufficient for holding enough backing LOL....seriously those bastards are unbeleivable. There are some big bonefish as well and unless you are lucky and can follow anything much more than 5 pounds you will be undergunned with a 6-7 weight.

Probably 9 weight is the best all around. 10 will make longer casts in most hands with some wind and handle larger patterns. 11 ain't too much.

I caught a permit within the first two hours of my Caribbean charter. Sounds like you were in the wrong river.