I've recently bought a few crankbaits and I am eager to get out and try them. I usually only fish with spinners and some type of plastic. I guess my question is how should I retrieve these baits? 

Easiest way to do it is just cast and retrieve with a steady, medium speed. Once you get a feel for it you can start messing with retrieves a little more. 

 

You can catch fish by just "flinging and reeling".  Vary your retrieve speed.   Crank and pause with perhaps a snap of the rod tip here and there.  The fish will let you know what they prefer.

7 hours ago, Bluebasser86 said:

Easiest way to do it is just cast and retrieve with a steady, medium speed. Once you get a feel for it you can start messing with retrieves a little more. 

 

This....

When cranking you want to make sure you pay attention to the cover that you hit like branches wood or rocks you want to pause the bait to created a reaction from the fish, and it will help you to avoid snags. I love throwing square bills.

18 minutes ago, Cheesefrank said:

When cranking you want to make sure you pay attention to the cover that you hit like branches wood or rocks you want to pause the bait to created a reaction from the fish, and it will help you to avoid snags. I love throwing square bills.

Good advice, but hard to do with new $5 lure.  Get yourself a lure retriever - any type...try a search here for some recommended ones.  It will give you a LOT more confidence to throw those trebles into trouble...knowing there's a good chance of getting a snagged lure back.  Once you get past that 'fear', you'll be putting that crank where the fish are.

7 hours ago, Choporoz said:

Good advice, but hard to do with new $5 lure.  Get yourself a lure retriever - any type...try a search here for some recommended ones.  It will give you a LOT more confidence to throw those trebles into trouble...knowing there's a good chance of getting a snagged lure back.  Once you get past that 'fear', you'll be putting that crank where the fish are.

Gotta say hear hear to this.  Since most square bills only go to 6' or less your chances of getting them back are good if you are in a boat or tube.  I am never without my extending golf ball retriever that I have converted to a lure retriever.  I don't play golf!

Also with every new crankbait on a existing or new setup, check to see how it looks in the water based on your cranking speed.  Some crankbaits might look "normal" when cranking at a certain speed, but another crankbait when cranked at that same speed might look a little off (wobbles too spaz at same cadence, has more side to side wobble when retrieved a touch more slowly, etc)  From there you can adjust how you want to work the lure and when you might want to throw one over another.

i usually start out slow and work my way up to go faster, depending on the bites

Cast it, keep your rod tip down towards the water. Reel it fast enough to get it to the cover/ down to the bottom, and then slow down so you can maintain contact with the cover/ bottom, and really feel the "tick tick." Keep moving and cover water, and when you get a bite on a crank, slow down with your plastics, as there are likely more around. Or, make a pass over an area once with a crankbait to pick off the more aggressive fish, then make another pass with slower techniques.