Mercman, I'm not much of a spinnerbait anlger anymore, but at one time it was my fav way to fish Smallies, especially on Simcoe.
Used to burn 1oz willow leaf blades as fast as we could just under the surface. Smallies would crush them out of 20ft of water. Our ribs would get bruised.
singingdog is bang on about the painted blades and Chart/white skirts, hands down #1 smallie pattern.
(Simcoe was silver blades, shiner/white skirts)
Windy, rainy or choppy days are ideal for spinnerbait fishing.
Hard pressed to win a tournament on them (not impossible and has happened, but not very often). Great numbers bait.