Bo - just takes practice, mine looked like crap when I first started.
Plate - not really fancy, just old standby colors from the bass days. Alot of the good color combo's for bass work for panfish too (trout even) Black/blue, red/black, green/orange, chartreuse/blue, brown/orange. If the natural with wool works best for you than keep using it.
A lot of ideas I get right here on the board and I go with them. Like the burnt orange I mixed the other day - it was a weird thought saying "Hey try raspberry with yellow" came out good. Thought about green chartreuse but thinking about others - I still have some of the Jacquards color pearl ex's to mix yet.