Plum, maybe I'm reading you wrong, but you seem concerned with retying. Unfortunately, there is no universal rig for bait-plugs-plastic-jigs. They are all different and incorporate different techniques and rigs.
I usually take one rod while surfcasting. When your walkin' and working the beach, dragging around extra gear can be pain. One rod, a small surf bag, an eel bucket... like John said, keep it simple. Your equipment and your rigs. Seriously, keep that hardware to a minimum.
Even if someone says that 90% of the time, they'll ignore excessive hardware and strike... well, that 10% is probably you're biggest fish of the night, or that one fish on a slow day that makes your trip. Any little advantage you can get, is worth it.
One rod to throw eels, plugs, jigs... or when schoolie fishing to throw shads, jerkbaits, poppers. I'm constantly changing and retying. Once you know a couple basic knots, it only takes a few seconds. Its just the nature of the game.
When I was a freshwater bass-hole, I took 6 or 7 rods out on the boat. A rod for every lure, size and weight... well, I still do that for stripers on the boat... BUT, for the surf you want to remain light and mobile. And the nature of surf fishing for bass involves structure... so, you should be checking your line and retying regularly anyway.
Take it from someone who's lazy butt didn't do that for the first couple years. Than when I finally started to catch some bigger fish, the need became more apparent. There's nothing more crappy than sticking it out all night and finally getting that nice fish on and -snap- bad words will come out of your mouth.
Again, don't sweat this stuff. Take your time, keep things simple, learn some basics, see what works for you.
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