Well, knowing the rules and regulations for fishing saltwater definitely does help. For instance, Pt. Dume is a MLPA area, and the law regarding that is not new. I recommend looking up all the MLPA areas before you start hitting the surf and reading up on the regs before you get out there. Here's a link to the saltwater section of the DFG site that should help.
http://www.dfg.ca.gov/marine/regulations.asp
http://www.dfg.ca.gov/mlpa/southcoast.asp
There are a lot of rules that differ from salt to fresh, for instance snagging
IS legal in saltwater.