i read an article last week that really made me think about this. it had a couple interviews with pros and all 3 said the same thing.
1) when you first get to a spot you should be throwing moving baits to see if the fish are active. first using a search bait like a spinnerbait, bladed jig, lipless crank something along those lines, then once you determine if the fish are active or not you can slow down if you know they are there with more finesse techniques like drop shots, ned rigs, senkos or anything like that.
2) if you are fishing grass or pad beds work a frog across the top first then move to flipping a jig or a t-rigged plastic into obvious spots if you don't get any blow-ups on the frog.
3) i think this is the most important point. do not assume fish are doing the same thing all over the lake. basically meaning repeat this process all over the lake if you are not finding fish.