you guys that hike a ways to get to spots...

[Joe]

Hiking along the shore and casting at different places is a good way to learn a spot but real time consuming once you understand it.

Let's say you find a good spot that's a mile and half from public parking; you can either park and walk along the shore for and take forty minutes to reach it, or you can walk back up the road, parallel to the shore and come in covertly. You can walk twice as fast over roads than rocks with less energy expended.

Once I've found the place I like to fish - and have a solid understanding of when to fish it, I'll ditch the shoreline route for the direct approach. I'll come in on a b-line through private roads, maybe cut through a yard or two in order to directly get to and fish the spot I want to hit the most then rinse and repeat at other places. Hiking is a great method of finding new water, but not an end in itself. You're out to fish, not hike.