Different places, times, flows, etc, all effect the best choice. If I had one choice, it would be a small cluster of eggs drift fished with alone. Second would probably be a sand shrimp tail. Next jigs, then corky, yarn, bead, spinners, spoons. I bank fish, so plugs and side drifting don't really apply, though there are times I have tried plugs or kind of side drifted by walking my gear down a long run. On day I walked into eagle creek on the Columbia. There were 200K between Bonneville and the Dalles, and I would not have been surprised to learn 50,000 were in the immediate area of the creek. There were 4 guys in a boat hooking up a fish every other cast. I, along with the other 3 guys there, tossed everything we had without a bite. The guys hooking everything would not talk to us, but despite their glares, I walked out as close to them as I could, and watched. They were tossing out bait, and then walking it back on the bottom. I drove to town, got some sand shrimp, started walking it back, and was getting multiple bites per cast. Most were pecking like smolt, so I missed most, bit it was still amazing. The other three guys on the bank were still there, and never did hook one. I had less then 30 minutes before dark, but still hooked quite a few and walked out with the biggest steelhead of my life (I broke one off that might have been bigger).
Never used that method again successfully, but that day and location, I believe it could have produced a 100 fish day. On a side note, my brother in law went back 2 days later and it was empty. I was seeing one roll every few seconds, he never saw one. Just the right place, right time, and the right method.