I purchased some better quality spinning reels with up to ten bearings. I notice them a tad harder to turn with spinnerbaits.

I use them on my plastics setup first to break them in a little first. I could be wrong, maybe it's me getting older.

_{Check the gear ratios compared to your other reels. If the new reels have a higher ratio, lures with a lot of drag like a spinnerbait will feel harder to reel in. I came across this last year when I got a couple of 6.2-1 reels after years of using reels in the 5-1 ratio}

_{Check the gear ratios compared to your other reels. If the new reels have a higher ratio, lures with a lot of drag like a spinnerbait will feel harder to reel in. I came across this last year when I got a couple of 6.2-1 reels after years of using reels in the 5-1 ratio}

This is very true and that's more than likely what the problem is. Good luck.

More bearings doesn't equal a better reel either. Lots of inexpensive reels boast high bearing counts, but in most cases they're either poor quality bearings or in places where they serve little to no purpose. 

 

What kind of spinnerbaits are you trying to fish on a spinning reel? 

Probably a larger profile blade on the spinnerbait is causing more water resistance.  Try using the same reel with a thinner profile lure and see how that feels.

Bigbill, you aren't that old.

Since the bearings in a spinning reel are for support and smoothness as opposed to casting, they can benefit from more bearings if they are put in the right places a little more so than a casting reel. That said, the ratio/IPT is no doubt to blame for the cranking resistance you feel. 

That is why you see spinnerbaits being fished with casting reels, I don't know how some throw them on spinning gear