I would look at the current conditions and that would tell me if their in deeper water or shallow. First, I'd try burning a Rat-l-trap, if that isn't working then I'd try a black Senko or a Dropshot setup.

If I have thrown everything in the box without even one bite, I usually try a jig and if that doesn't  work I pack it up and go home.

White 3" grub with a 1/4oz head. It almost impossible to not catch fish. You can fish them faster then finesse baits or jigs to.

Hands down, Its got to be a small inline spinner like a roostertail. Its bailed me out ALOT!!! Especially right after a cold front.

white 10" trick worm.

Zoom Finesse Worm on my 1/4 oz Shakey Head we pour

Dropshot.

Mine as well. Not too many fish see as slow weightless presentation a foot or two off the bottom, and a good percent of the time, this does the trick.

Smaller profile jigs, worked slowly.

It's not a bait issue.  It's a location and/or presentation issue.

that's a vague question, and can be answered 100 different ways, each of which could be the right answer. depends on the body of water, time of year, what the fish are doing, etc.

Exactly.

The knee-jerk reaction to a question like that is a finesse presentation for negative fish.

I can't tell you how many times it took a fast aggressive retrieve to turn the trick.

Roger

Ditto on the faster retrieve. I was pitching a jig along the shore line one day with no success. My line had loosened up on the reel so I made a long cast down the shoreline and began reeling as fast as I could just to get the line tight back on the reel so I could continue pitching down the bank. A 4#er nearly yanked the rod out of my hands.

"Some people are born great, some achieve greatness, and others (like me) have greatness thrust upon them."