I think boat fish don't count BECAUSE.... I've never caught one from the surf, and only a few a pier/bridge ect.. I live on the OBX of NC, for the past 5-6yrs the stripers have only been accessible from boat with the occasional stragler caught from the surf... Up north it may be different, but the further south you get, the surf caught fish become few and far between... That being said, I'll be heading out early in the next couple days to try and catch my first surf caught striper (I've heard that a few of those straglers have been caught)