Last spring I spent a week surf fishing about 2 miles east of Perdido Pass. I caught a good many decent whiting and a limit of Pompano every day. I was using much smaller rods loaded with 6 and 8 pound test line and fishing much closer to shore than anyone near me. They were all wading out and casting as far out as they could. I was sitting in my lawn chair and not even standing up to make my casts. Perhaps that will emphasize how close in I was fishing. I did not see them catch many fish so at that time the productive area was quite near to shore. My biggest problem was walking thru the sand with my walking stick and pulling my tackle wagon. Several days I had volunteers that were strangers come over and help me get my equipment to or from the beach. A couple of days it was beach boys putting out chairs and I thanked them with a little tip but many times it was just strangers on the beach sunbathing. There are many nice people out there.