Hi Trout. This might be one of those situations where you might have to decide between whether salt or steelhead is your primary target. Try the saltwater section here at FAOL, and if you are a NE saltwater fan, try stripersurf.com. This is an excellent site with a lot of heavy hitter SW flyfishers. There they will probably push a 10 wgt as the best all around, but if you are going to concentrate on back bays and estuarys on the NE corridor the 9 would probably give you the best balance. Florida might push the 8 a little more. Remember, SW fishing gives a whole new meaning to the word "wind", and you are going to be using some pretty well weighted flys (bring a helmet), so the extra weight could come in handy! LOL.
Good luck with it!
Bob