I've had good luck with surf perch on the central california coast using basic fresh water spinning gear. A 6&1/2 or 7' medium light rod, 2500 size spinning reel and six or eight lb mono. I use Berkley "Gulp" scented camo or red blood worms or plastic grubs on a "Carolina" rig; tie a barrel swivel on the end of your line with a 4 to 6 ft leader on the other end of the swivel. Put a small plastic sliding bead above a sliding sinker and a #4 or # 6 hook on the end of the leader. The bead should be between the barrel swivel and sinker. Pretty much what you'd use for fresh water bass. Rinse your rod and reel off each day with fresh water when you're done.
In my experience you don't need to make real long casts or use heavy tackle and I've seen a lot of people catching surf perch with tackle as I've described above. Surf Perch are good fighters but a two pounder's considerably above average and they're often caught in the surf in very shallow water. I'm not saying that's the only way to fish for surf perch but it's worked well for me.
There are lot of good you tube videos on west coast surf perch fishing
