You can categories surface irons into roughly 3 sizes; small, medium, and large.
To name a few:
Small: tady aa, a1, c, salad 7x jr., j pot, Jri 1,
Medium: tady 45, 4/0 light, jri 2,3, dw1
Large: salas 7x, jri 4
From there it comes down to conditions and trial and error. If fish are on small bait, a tady a1 would probably be a better bet than a 7x and vice versa if they’re on bigger bait.
Some jigs swim like a fast wind and others like a jri 3 swim better at a slower pace.
Color can matter occasionally but a good swimming jig with no paint will usually outfish a dud with a brand new paint job.
If you like fishing mono and traditional glass jig sticks, it’s a bit difficult to find one set up that throws all sizes of jigs well. A 690j or 530 with 30lb is great for small to medium jigs for the 3 bs and smaller yellows, but won’t throw a big jig well and doesn’t have the horsepower to fish foaming bluefin or home guard yellows on structure. While a 93 ulua or 100j mag and 50 lb is perfect for the bigger jigs.
Braid and an 8-10 foot graphite or composite rod gives a bit more flexibility when it comes to the range of jigs you can throw and some blanks have a surprising amount of backbone. A us90 monster, gf90j, or really any 9 foot 20-50 or 30-60 composite rod with a fathom 25n or equivalent reel and a 3 foot 40-60 fluoro or mono leader will get you by on most situations, but does take some time to get used to.
For the yoyo jigs, any 7-8 foot 40-60 lb rod and 40-60 mono or 80 braid to 50-60 leader will fit the bill. You can fish a 500 size star drag, but a Baja special or fathom 40n or other equivalent size 2 speed makes life easier. Casting isn’t too much of a concern, the goal is to have the jig moving quickly through the depth range fish are marking at.
One option that can fish well at the islands, especially around squid beds, is fishing a smaller yoyo like a tady 9 or salad 6x jr on the long rod. Long casts and pumping it off the bottom can be effective. Alternating 10-15 rapid cranks and freespooling allows you to stay in the zone and cover a lot of water. I caught my biggest yellow on the jig thus far (37lbs) like this on 6x jr in 60 degree water at sbi in November. But definitely don’t recommend doing this around structure, you just won’t get your jigs back.
Your 909j with an mxj with a few hundred yards of braid to 75-100 yards of 40 mono or straight 80 braid would cover the majority of surface iron needs, and any 7-8 foot 50lb stick with the same line set up would be great for the yo-yo.
A few light jigs to start with would be a couple salas 7x, tady 45, and a tady c or 2. I’m partial to mint or mint white, but scrambled egg, blue/white, green sardine (birdshit), or dorado all get bit too.
For the yoyo, a couple salas 6x and 6x jrs in scrambled egg and blue/white will usually be more than enough.
Eventually you’ll collect more jigs than you can ever fish, and you’ll probably use a select few religiously.
