What are your go-to transistors?

I am afraid that trough hole parts are a thing of the past. they are only manufactured to be used in old designs, these days all components are surface mount. so it is really hard to find any MOSFETs in through hole package that can be controlled by 3V. That does not keep some companies from advertising for example TO-220 MOSFETs as suitable for 3.3V GPIO... out of ignorance or just to make a buck they point to the gate threshold voltage which is a pretty misleading figure. you need to look at the Rds(on) specification. if the device is only rated at 4.5V and 10V you probably only can use it at very low currents if at all, with 3V gate voltage.
It is quite easy to solder a SOT-23 device onto a piece of circuit board and add solid wires to make it possible to plug into a breadboard, if necessary. these days, SOT-23 is considered a quite old package type, and quite large compared to modern packages. for really high power, consider Power-SO8 type packages that have a large pad that is connected to the Drain. the large pad conducts heat into the circuit board. just don't forget to select a part that has ON-resistance specified at 2.5V. or use a MOSFET gate driver and power it from 5V or higher, then the sky is the limit when it comes to power handling ability.