1. Robo worm, bold bluegill color
2. Sniper bolts and snubs, 2031 Melon Green Pepper/Copper
3. Sniper J Craw, brown
4. Senko, any of the popular colors.

Russ can you please explain the technique to drop shotting a Rapala? Or even a crankbait? I am guessing it is similar to a Rev rig, just much slower?

Just watch, next thing we know, Russ will put a bobber above his crankbaits and spinnerbaits.    What?  Jig n' Pig,  too?  Oh, a penny balloon.  Well, now, that's better!

Actually, unconventional thinking is a good thing. Give the fish something they've never seen before. Maybe they'll never see it again, but that's ok too.

One of my USAF buddies is over at Mt. Home AFB, ID. He found a neat way to use a DS rig for suspended fish... actually Perch, but no matter.  The fish were on the LCG at about 20', so he pitched his DS rig (a Yam. grub) about 20' from the boat, and let it pendulum back toward the boat. Look at this from the fish's perspective....this little jerk comes swimming into your turf at a fairly high rate, a pretty brazen move. Can't put up with that, and besides, if somebody doesn't eat that nutcase soon, I'm gonna....WHAM! Reaction strike! Perfect use for a circle hook, by the way...  

Something I tried just once, when the water was too cold for a topwater, but I just had to see if it'd do what I wanted...I took a light colored 4" or 5" flippin' tube, and nosed hooked it with a small circle hook. Threw it out on a typical splitshotting rod, 8 lb test monofil, and it "walked the dog"  perfectly, first try. A straight retreive might work better for less active fish, just waking it, as slowly as possible.  The cool deal is that if you get a blowup on it, you stop the retreive, the tube turns nose-down and falls to the bottom.  "Follow-up bait" is right there, on the spot. Gotta work, betcha money on it.

Back to Drop Shot baits, I've pretty well decided to stick with affordable stuff. No $11.99 for 8ea Japanese stuff. I'm looking for a source for Venom Super Doo's, 'cause Russ and I both know they're killer, but I think I'll be happy with 3" and 4" Senkos, various 3" and 4" worms, sticks, tubes, Flukes, Tiny Brush Piggys, etc.  Colors should be medium to light for most waters where DS would likely be used, as a general rule.

I'm liking the looks of the Zoom Meathead in "Baitfish", and they should do fine unweighted or splitshot rigged.  I have gotten some handpours from Angler's Arsenal and will be sending an order to Snakebite before long. Both sell direct, and so are pretty affordable. There are a lot of plastics makers that are VERY proud of their product, IMO (meaning too high in price).  I'm also thinking that the 3" Kalin grub in Avacado would be killer where there's yellow perch (every &%$@# where).