hawgbone,
i live in connecticut and thats primarily where i do my fishing. i learned to drop shot 10 years ago fishing tournaments in canada and on my home waters of connecticut, that is one of the primary techniques.
i have a few tips for you, however you may need to adjust accordingly depending on where/what lake you are fishing.
spinning equiptment
atleast a 7' rod medium/medium light with a fast to extra fast tip
6 and 8lb test is the norm around here(flourocarbon)
light and small hook
that is basically the setup, again, adjust accordingly and experiment(no stedfast rules...experiment)
-the less you move your rod typically the better...let the bait work itself. people tend to over work a drop shot, including me(my wife typically out fishes me doing this because she literally drops it down or casts it out and does nothing while im standing there trying to get fish to go...you get my point)
-you will get hung up and you will lose weights and you will brake off baits(nature of the beast)
-dont set the hook like a mad man...just reel down and lift up on the rod
off the top of my head thats all i got for now...very fun technique though
again, this technique definitely varies depending on where yo are fishing. like i said earlier, im in ct and when doing this im primarily targeting smallies on rocky structure. adjust your presentation/equiptment accordingly.
hope i helped atleast a little