I find my spinning reel harder to crank with the 6.2:1 gear ratio. Would a baitcaster with the same 6.2:1 gear ratio be easier to crank? I think the 7.2:1 ratio is too

much for me. Is there a case of ripping a spinner bait too fast?

Right now I crank the smaller spinnerbaits slow. I find the larger

spinnerbaits do not work for me and maybe my speed is too slow. I

watch Jimmy Houston ripping his larger spinnerbaits so speed maybe my problem.

It's probably my arthritis, and my old quad/dirtbike injuries. Sorry for the dumb questions. I would like to learn to rip spinnerbaits as they say.

I would like to improve my spinner bait fishing with the larger spinnerbaits.

This might not address spinnerbaits per se, but it may address spinning reels.  In a spinning reel IPT may a bit more important than the actual ratio, howver they can go hand in hand.  For the most part I pay little attention to IPT as I'm working my lures, whether it be bass fishing or some of my inshore species.  I guess I've been finesse fishing for nearly 60 years, never knew there was a name for it.  There are some techniques where the IPT is very important, like butterfly jigging or deep water freshwater fishing with something like a hopkins type spoon.

When it comes to spinnerbaits, I'm still using a spinning reel but I just reel faster or slower, it may take a few casts to hone in on speed I want.

Not being a fan of b/c in general, it might appear to me that a spinning reel might be easier to operate for a person with arthritis.

There are times when that extra line pick up comes in handy.  When a fish is swimming right at you after being hooked, and reeling in a bait over the top of the weeds are just a couple I can think of right now.

Yes, you have to look at IPT.  A 6:1 reel with a small arbor spool may not take up more line per turn than a 5:1 reel with a larger arbor spool. 

From looking at the data Bass Pro provides about reels, it was very evident that many baitcasting reels with higher ratios bring in less line than some spinning reels with lower ratios.