Westwood wrote on May 7^th, 2015 at 10:43pm:

how do spinner baits fit in with the school of thought that a lure should be natural and resemble a natural food?

the skirt part pulses and wiggles and if you use a trailer it looks like a tail. thats the part that looks like a baitfish.

the blades are there for flash/vibration and to look like a few small fish swimming together.

spinner baits are reaction baits, they only have to "enough" like a prey species to elicit the predatory instinct. the blades give enough flash/vibration that the fish know its coming, and ambush it.

spinnerbaits pick up the active aggressive fish. thats why the are most known for bass fishing and pike fishing.

they are meant to be fished faster than a finesse lure that the fish have a chance to inspect.

i use them most often for fishing for pike near my home. we fish the river and move along the shoreline with the trolling motor. the areas we target are mostly weedy so the snagless/weedlessness shines. this application is also what turned me onto northland jawbreaker spoons. my favorite spoon. 100 fish days are not out of the norm.

with that said, spinnerbaits arent meant to replace your jigs. they are a compliment. just like they dont replace your trolling plugs. they provide a variety and utility that no other lure offers. but if there ever was a time that i could only have 1 lure, i would very much have to consider a spinnerbait.