A few years ago I used nothing but spinning gear and I didn't feel like I was missing out at all.  My curiosity about bait casters triggered me to buy one and I back lashed like a maniac so I went back to my trusty spinning reels.  The mistake I made was I went cheap on my first bc reel.  My buddy bought a lews and raved about it so I became curious again and bought one.  Today I use bc gear for 99% of my fishing because it's my preference.  For the techniques I use I could still use spinning gear for everything, but I just enjoy using a bait caster.

 

 

If you look at the professional angler, he is going to match the equipment to the conditions.  

I never thought to emulate a professional fisherman, 50# braid (didn't mention heavier, I don't want those he-men feeling like weenies) skimming a 3# fish back to the boat in 10 seconds or less.  You really don't call that fishing or at least sport, does one?  There is plenty of thick vegetation up north and don't think for second the surf is always clean.  Thick mats of floating seaweed is common place, try pulling a just a 3 # jack thru that, yet it's done all the time with spinning gear.  The reel doesn't pull the fish thru it any way, the rod does, so just use a heavier rod when needed.

The right tool is the one that you are most comfortable with.  

Oh definitely you are missing out, using baitcasters increases your catch rate by 10 fish a day. 

Here's my take. I use both, and I like casting for mid to heavy stuff, spinning for the light stuff. Casting for line over 8#, spinning for below. Yeah, there's specialist gear, if you want to get technical, but that is the break down in a nut shell.

There's a handful of guys here that do spinning only, and will tell you don't need to use casting. There's also a few that use casting only. All the rest either use both or want to get started with casting.

Pick your group - no one has the right answer.