Surf fishing! Wooooweeee!
It be good fun.
Just wondering if you ever do fishing, and if so, what type? I'm guessing that you'd only ever have done stream and lake fishing, if ever at all. Fly, bait or lure?
Anyways, assuming you have never done any form of fishing before...
You will need a pair of pliers. Definitely small needle-nosed, preferably bent/angled as well. This would be for removing the hooks from your catch, and if it is too big, it may not be able to go in to the mouth of the fish to get those stuck in an awkward position. Of course there is a specialised tool for removing hooks, but I think that it would be an unnecessary expense, especially for your first trip. The pliers must be of sufficient quality so that the wire cutter part of it can cut your monofilament lines and leader material, and your smaller hooks. You will probably also end up using it for crimping metal sleeves (if you go for really heavy leaders) and applying tension when you tie a line.
You may also need an average-grade fillet knife for preparing your bait and cleaning the catch. IIRC, Frost's of Sweden (NOT Frost Cutlery) would be a good one. I don't really have very much info for this area and personally, I just use a fillet knife I picked up from the tackle shop marked "Frosts" on the handle but going for a mere AU$20. I'm sure someone else can tell you all about the various blade from custom makers and so on and so forth. I can't.
Be warned that this knife will probably be left on the cutting board
(Cutting board very important too) in the bait preparation area and everyone will be using it. It will also be the one item most likely to be lost or left behind, not counting the rigs that you will lose to over-sized fish, break-offs in mid-cast, or snagging on rocks.
Scissors are probably the simplest part of the deal. Fiskars. I haven't found anything else that comes close. (Or maybe because all the other offerings are crap.) The one I have been using all this while was, I think, intended for craft use, but it doesn't matter.
Finally, we come to the knife that you would carry for personal use. Anything in Talonite or Stellite would be good for salt water soaking, but would be too expensive. Your heart will break and your wallet will go in to shock if you even think that you've lost it. The La Griffe is a good choice and with a light coating of oil or Tuff Cloth, would serve very well, as would the Bear Claw from CRKT, though I am a little wary about the AUS-8 (?) steel holding up to corrosion when the coating is lost. My personal preference is for a plain edge knife of a typical shape such as the wharncliffe, spear point, drop point or clip point. Steel should be one of the slightly more rust resistant types such as ATS-34, ATS-55, BG-42, VG-10. Even 440C and (I think) 440V would be good choices. Of some importance is the surface finish of the knife, as some forms of finish actually seem to encourage corrosion. Mirror finish is probably best, followed by bead blasting (real bead-blast, not sand-blast) or shot peening. Oh yeah, 1 hand opening is rather important too, as the other hand will most likely be holding a rod or a recalcitrant fish.
On that note, I would like to recommend knives like the Spydie Endura or Delica, the SOG Autoclip, AG Russell's 1-hand-knife with the zytel handle (the other handle types are way over your $50 limit), Camillus EDC (preferably the 154CM version available exclusively from 1SKS), Camillus Arclite, or even one of the neck knives available from the custom makers.
OK. I've gone on too long in this post. Hope you find something good and enjoy yourself this weekend.
