Great post. I will add a couple of things that have helped me on thin blue lines:
1. On access points, develop plans b, c, d, etc. Researching accessis a lot of fun and there are many excellent online and hard copy tools out there, but you never know when you show up if the spot will be occupied, inaccessible upon closer inspection, not fishable at the flows on day of, etc., so have backups.
2. Be patient, persistent and creative with the prime spots if they don't produce at first. I usually work my way up to these if for no other reason than to shake off any rust and generally get in the groove of things. However, that does not always completely eliminate poor presentations, slow reactions, etc. that cause you to miss fish. Some of my most rewarding blue line experiences have involved the scenario where I make a less than perfect presentation, a "surprise" type fish reveals itself anyway and I end up taking several minutes to gather myself, think through the entire process of fishing through the spot effectively, and tie on a (usually significantly different) new pattern. When this all comes together and you land a nice fish to end the day it's very rewarding.
I'm sure this is familiar to the point of being intuitive to many, but I thought it was worth mentioning.