Fighting a big striper from a boat is a piece of cake compared to fighting one in the surf. Once he takes off first you have to get off the jetty so you can fight him from the beach. We wore chest waders with the built-in boots, and then we pulled the cleats out of an old pair of golf shoes and screwed them into the soles of the boots. The cleats would give you traction on the seaweed covered rocks. Without them it was like trying to walk on slime, you would break your azz. Once you made it to the beach you had to fight both the fish and the surf, and the fish knew how to use the surf to his advantage. Landing a 20 lb striper in the surf is much harder than landing a 40 lb striper from a boat. Plus you had to keep from getting knocked down by the waves, or your waders would fill with water and you could drown, but that's another story.
Didn't mean for this to get into a chest beating contest, but surf fishing on the New Jersey Shore is not for the weak.
I eat at Waldo's sometimes. Great place.