I've been fishing for trout in the Sierra and spotties in the bays of SoCal for several years but I am very new to fly fishing.

I'm thinking of getting an 8 wt setup for fishing the bays and surf fishing. (would this also work for salmon?)

What line would you recommend? Floating/sinking?
I see that Airflow makes a line for surf fishing. Will this line work in the bays too?
Most of the areas in the bay are 15-20'