Getting back into fishing after 15 years or so of not fishing. Seems like spinning tackle is a lot more popular than it used to be. Is this just because you can cast lighter lures? 

The bass world has gone finesse crazy .I guess it works for them but not so much for me .  The way I see it , bass have huge mouths for a reason , to swallow big prey .

Welcome to the forums Oresti! I really don't have an answer to your question, but I think it is more personal preference and I think experience plays a role also. I am a spinning tackle guy, mostly because it is what I have always used and am very comfortable with it. At some point I think I will make the move to bait casting gear, just not at that point yet. 

Depending on what part of the country you are from, and where you get your information on bass fishing, spinning tackle has always been popular. I’m in a smallmouth club in Northern Illinois and the majority of our 300 members use spinning gear. We have more guys who use fly rods for bass than use bait casters by a wide margin. Now the guys who follow the professional bass tours and emulate what they see the pros use, will be the ones who use bait casters most often. Now that the pros are using more spinning gear, their followers will add more spinning tackle too.

I carry about 10 setups of each.  Some of my spinning are for finesse and some not.  That is the same for my bait casters.  It just depends on what and hoe I am fishing.

49 minutes ago, Oresti said:

Getting back into fishing after 15 years or so of not fishing. Seems like spinning tackle is a lot more popular than it used to be. Is this just because you can cast lighter lures? 

Yes.

Tom

I have ten rigs and half of them are spinning. The BCs run to heavier things - pitch/flip, larger topwaters, etc. - but there is some overlap. I have two crankbait rigs, one is a BC on a MH/M rod, the other a 3000 size spinning reel that's also on a MH/M rod. It's really more of a preference as I could get a heavy spinning rig to do the pitch/flip work, but I'm pants when it comes to tossing finesse-weight lures on a BC...so if I had to go one or the other, it'd be all spinning.

Every type of tackle has it's place.  Spinning tackle is light line fishing.  The lighter the line and/or the smaller the lure, the more strikes you will get.  For years most successful tournament anglers used spinning tackle and didn't talk much about it.  That changed and finesse tactics became commonplace. Obviously, light line is not suitable for all bass fishing situations.  Along with my casting rods, I always carry one spinning outfit loaded with 8 pound test.