From my experience, yes you want to be careful about sand/saltwater. I just spent hours cleaning my spinning reels in prep for a North Carolina trip. Buy some rod holders, preferably with metal spikes - if the rod holder falls over and the reel hits the sand...

Soft plastics are a waste of time - they get destroyed. Try a variety of baits to see what works. Two years ago I had a lot of fun with live mud minnows and spoons catching ladyfish, aka poor man's tarpon.