Typical inline weights are fished the same as a jet, at the end of the main line with a 5-7' leader. Considering these are usually only used with harnesses or spoons, the weights don't seem to affect the baits at all. We've caught our fair share of walleye off of 2 & 3 ounce "trolling sinkers", they're simple and unlike a Tru Trip there's no tuning necessary to make sure you're fishing instead of fighting your gear.

Clip on sinkers are generally used when fishing crankbaits and they're fished as you mentioned, let out half of your line, add a sinker, let out the rest of your line. You take them off when they get to the rod.

I wouldn't hesitate to run sinkers again. They're simpler and cheaper than Tru Trips, they're easier to reel in, and they're not going to tripwith no fish on or not trip with a fish on. The only downside is, they don't suspend/float (duh) so if you slow down or stop you're probably going to need to reel up your lines to remove the mussels, whereas the jets are going to suspend. However, they're also going to move up and down the water column as you speed up and slow down or on the inside/outside of a turn, so this can help you dial in on the right depth a little quicker sometimes.