TFO MOMENT Review - Best Fly Rods for Saltwater of 2025
The MOMENT We've All Been Waiting For
Thousand-dollar fly rod performance that doesn't actually cost a thousand dollars??? Yep. Welcome to the future.
*In case anyone thinks I am somehow biased toward this TFO... Why wouldn't I prefer to sell you a $1,000+ fly rod instead? I'm on commission in the sense that I am the owner of a major saltwater fly shop. I don't get paid by the hour, guys. I directly benefit financially if you buy a more expensive rod than this. And I'm still telling you how good this rod is... Think about it. I review rods so my customers can make the best decisions without being able to try all this gear themselves. I want you to love what you get and have a great time fishing with it.
I knew about the development of these TFO MOMENT rods for quite awhile, as I usually do, and I'm happy to see them in their final production because wow these turned out so nice. I actually told TFO they ought to price these at $750 or more by the way, don't be mad at me these are worth it. First of all, TFO has been making fantastic rods at very reasonable prices for a long time. I have always joked they should be charging more. This new TFO Moment is only $649.95 and there is not much even close to it for the money. The only competition in terms of a lower price for a good saltwater rod is actually the TFO Blitz, as far as I can tell. The Orvis Recon is currently $598, so it's close to the Moment and has always sold better than anything else in this price range but the Moment is quickly becoming a best-seller here at the shop. These new Moment rods are considered "Extra Fast" vs the normal "Fast" of most saltwater rods. I was initially worried about that designation because for other brands it usually just means "Extra Stiff" but not these rods. I don't really agree with "Extra Fast" for these rods, I'd just say "Fast" but I think because all saltwater rods these days are called "Fast" that TFO wanted to indicate more responsive performance than those other ones, which I'd say is true for the most part.
Great example here of why I do all these real-world tests: I had first assumed at minimum Grand Slam or heavier lines would be needed to load the larger rod sizes, but that was not the case at all. Performance was fantastic without the need for heavy stuff. I'm impressed. Makes these much nicer to cast. The 11wt was phenomenal in my testing with just a normal Tarpon taper line. No need for the heavier lines at all here. Considering this is such a rugged, Kevlar-reinforced rod, that's wild. Not what I expected, but that's what these tests are all about. True story: When I first started to create the 11wt combo we sell for this rod, I hadn't fully tested that size yet so I put Grand Slam as the default line choice. Well, go look, now a week into my testing it's set to Tarpon taper as the default (you can still choose Grand Slam though if you prefer it, it works great too, just don't "need" it like you would with some rods). When I make these combos we offer, it's never by accident or random. It's based on actual testing.
Every company selling $1,000+ fly rods has just been put on notice.
This thing is really cool. The colors look great, but my one criticism is maybe they took notes from the Sector a littttle bit with how this rod looks. I am only saying "looks similar" not "performs in a similar way." My initial impression was that this TFO feels a tiny bit heavier (comparing the two 8wt models, for example). Don't freak out about the weight. It is also more reinforced than the Sector as well, with Kevlar visible over the carbon at the base of the rod just above the grip. Pretty cool detail there. Also you get alignment dots, for those who care about this (I do not, I can eyeball it just fine). You know what is missing? A reel seat that prevents the locking collar from spinning. Some of the higher-end fly rods do have this feature and it's nice. But honestly if I'm saving $500 or so, that's ok. Actually, there's a certain $1,245 dollar rod that doesn't have this feature either... Hmmm... Makes you wonder what you're really paying for. The RECoil guides are nice, ceramic (Ceracoil) would have been cool but the price needed to be kept reasonable and these work just fine. Worth noting that many of the high-end rods all have the exact same Ceracoil guides... The company that makes them is a third party that sells to Winston, Scott, TFO, T&T, Douglas, etc. all with the exact same components for their high-end saltwater rods. Just FYI, guys. The gap is not much in terms of specs. Only the reel seats are different.
Just above the Moment's price point you'd reach the Douglas SKY G for a couple hundred more bucks. Another frequently overlooked rod series that's very good. The Orvis Recon is the closest contender in terms of price. The Maverick is a bit older and heavier by comparison so it isn't really competition. As always, I encourage people to cast them and see for yourself if you don't want to take my word for it.
The new TFO Moment series is a real threat to all the high-end fly rod brands from arguably the only company that could ever even do that at this price point. If you guys don't know, TFO sells more fly rods than basically anyone else as far as I know. Now they'd like a little slice of the high-end market and I support that idea, frankly. Good to put a little heat on the expensive guys to start innovating more and delivering more value for dollar rather than just raising the price every year.
The bottom line is you could get two of these for the price of one Asquith, a Winston Air 2 MAX or an Orvis Helios D (all of these rods are generally considered the best of the best). That means an 8wt and a 9wt for your Belize trip, or maybe an 8 and a 10 or 11 if you want some Tarpon mixed in there. You get the idea. I'm a big fan of having multiple rods (many customers go on trips with just one). This rod will also be a killer "backup" option to a high-end rod without having to spend an additional $1,200+ and without really "losing" anything at all.
The real struggle for me (and for some of you) will be realizing that this rod is actually higher-end than the price suggests and therefore it is reasonable to spend more than the rod for a reel to match it. Saltwater reels that I would consider to be appropriate to this rod's performance level (not price) are mostly more expensive than it is. Oh well. Spend the money, get a Lamson Litespeed or Hatch Iconic for it. Super light, and you already saved so much on this rod over a $1,000+ option that it makes sense. I might even put the new Hyperspeed on these rods and try it out. Humans subconsciously want to make the prices make sense in their heads on anything we buy. But it is "performance" that we need to match up here.
Ultimately, this new TFO is really competing with the $1,000+ rods, the top end of fly fishing. Again, don't believe me? Go try it. Cast it against the others (with a good fly line). Buy one from us and return it if you don't like it, I don't care. I'll take it if you don't want it. I go fishing with returned rods for "quality assurance purposes"... We do not sell any returned items as "new" by the way, in case you are new here, they are marked as lightly used. Nothing that's been fished is re-sold as new, ever. We are meticulous.
Bottom Line: This is a "half-price" elite fly rod fighting against the very best from other brands in the $1,100+ price range. Buy two for the price of one top-end rod.
Note: As usual for my reviews, I will be continuing to test these new rods for several months in actual use. I will update as I go, evaluating many different popular fly lines with each size of these rods. I have tried most of the sizes with most of the popular fly lines already, but not everything as I just don't have that much free time.
I will update this review with lots more great stuff soon plus all the new fly line tests/comparisons/suggestions. As usual, I need more time to finish my review as I am slammed with customer orders, calls, and emails, all of which have to come first before the fun part for me which is testing everything thoroughly. I will update ASAP.
Keep in mind the two aspects of fly rod performance that I mainly focus on: How it casts, and how it does actually fighting fish. Think of these as somewhat opposing characteristics on a sliding scale. One side is finesse and presentation and the other side is more about power and durability.
Partial list of fly lines tested so far:
Note that these are our best-selling fly lines so I start with them for testing all fly rods.
SA Bonefish PLUS: 8wt Tested and this line is perfect with the Moment rod. Seriously fantastic. *haven't tried this same line in 9wt yet but 8wt is the most popular size of this line.
SA Grand Slam: 9wt-11wt tested with this line series and worked great - this line tends to work well on most saltwater rods and it's the bestselling fly line of any 9wt line, without a doubt. Primarily sells in the new Magnitude clear-tip series although a mix of the normal Amplitude Smooth/Textured sells a ton as well. It's really the bestseller in every variation.
Tarpon tapers: Worked great, no surprise here. There are some less "traditional" tarpon lines, some people like Infinity taper for example, which I will get around to later. Remember I'm focused on what people buy the most as that's what needs to work well and it is by far SA Tarpon, mainly the new Magnitude series. Good news, it works great. I put it in the combos I'm making for these new Moment rods.
SA Striper: *This is a brand new fly line but very popular so far with customers; several weights to test but focused on the 9wt mainly
Airflo Flats Universal Taper (also relevant to clear tip version with the same taper) - I happened to already have this spooled up on a reel so I tried it out, and it is fine. I much preferred SA Bonefish PLUS overall but this line worked perfectly fine on the 8wt.
*RIO Fly Lines: Note that we are no longer evaluating RIO lines due to their issues, terrible treatment of me personally (yes, really), and poor behavior by their new management which harms fly shops everywhere. One example of many: They recently kicked all authorized dealers (fly shops) off Amazon so they could sell direct-to-consumer exclusively under their corporate parent company "Far Bank" (therefore cutting out all fly shops). We suggest you support better-run fly line brands instead, such as Scientific Anglers, Cortland, Airflo, etc. Fly shops are important for customers to be able to learn and ask questions, help with gear selection and setup (like we do) and give good advice. We care about all good fly shops, not just our own. Support your local fly shop if you have one - if not, support us! Or both, we have lots of customers who buy their trout gear from their local shop and their saltwater gear from us. That's great!
More Line Tests:
Tarpon tapers in 10 and 12wt sizes, I already tested 11wt TARPON taper and it's great (going to test these later all at once to compare better) - will also do 10wt and 11wt Grand Slam soon. Maybe 12wt if I have time.
Redfish fly lines - Not as big of a seller compared to Bonefish/Permit/Tarpon but a solid 4th place in what we sell the most so I will get to these tests right after the "Grand Slam" trio.
Heavy fly lines (Bass, Tropical Titan, etc) which will push the rods the hardest. These are all two sizes heavy and have short heads. A tough test for any fly rods but not what most people will use on these rods so I am not in a big rush to try these yet. Mostly relevant for jungle applications and in 11/12wt for GT / Trevally species.
Cortland Backcountry - Relatively new fly line from Cortland, so far pretty popular. As the name implies this is great for a lot of Florida, Belize, and similar shallow-water flats, mangrove areas, etc.
3 comments
Hello, any update on line tests for the 11wt? Grand Slam?
Interesting comment about the appropriate reel being more expensive than the rod…I’m used to spending a lot more for the reel than the rod. I fish a lot of Hardy and have matched them up to Makos and Seiglers, all of which are more expensive than the rod. In the same vein, I spend a lot more on my scopes than my rifles…my 6.5mm Creedmore is a $2,000 rifle and a $4,500 Tangent Theta scope.
Looking forward to your review on the TFO Moment, considering buying 2 …