Fishing Catagories

What and where are these types of fishing and which does surf fishing fit into?

Off shore
In shore
Near shore

Surf is surf.

Inshore is inside the bays & rivers.

Near Shore is open Gulf, in a boat, from shore out, many guys define the break between nearshore and offshore to be where you can no longer see land, but I don't think its "defined".

Offshore is open Gulf over the horizon at least.

Thanks Carl that puts it in perspective.

Also, beer is a lot like sex,, there is no bad, some is just better than others.

Yep, pretty much.
Surf is generally the area between the beach to just outside the longshore sandbar.
On the pier fishing is distinctively different outside the middle platform than from there to the beach.