Dave, when I first got into fishing for steelhead, the guy that was showing me the ropes for winter fish swore by spinners. I spent countless hours tossing spinners in great looking water and never had a strike. After a season or two of mostly spinner fishing, I started experimenting with drift rigs, bait, jigs, etc. and started catching fish. To date, I have seen one winter steelhead caught on a spinner. It was a small nate out of the Pilchuck. I have heard stories of people doing well with them, but I have never seen it or experienced it. I would be very curious to hear the consensus from others.

I don't have much experience with summerruns, in fact this past summer was the first time I targeted them, but in two trips we landed 6 fish all on spinners. Blue, purple, and bronze blue fox spinners.

How to fish the spinners I think depends a lot on the water. It seemed to me like the summerrun fish behaved a lot more like trout in that they would hold in faster water and pockets behind boulders and such. This can be tough water to fish effectively with any gear as the current tends to be moving and it hard to get the spinners deep. Casting across the river to hit these pockets well can be hard also. I think what you are going for is a slow swing where you give the fish enough time to get annoyed with the offering or at least a long enough look in a position to strike. Usually this happens in the last third of the swing down stream. A number of the summer fish we caught weren't shy about leaving their lies to crush the spinner as it passed through or near their territory. Making an extra effort to get just the right presentation seemed to pay off. I think setting up for the perfect presentation on the first cast is worth the effort as well. Unlike silvers that seem to either get turned on and bite, or not, the steelies seemed to ignore the spinner until it encroached on their realm.

I find myself casting mostly straight out or even downstream in fast current with my rod tip high to keep line out of the water and avoid the big belly drag that can happen. I am not sure about that reeling downstream thing. Perhaps in slower water where you need to speed up the lure to keep the blade turning, but in faster water it seems like you are ripping the spinner by fish too quickly and the spinner isn't really in a position of function heading down stream.

Perhaps this is over analyzing a bit and it is just as simple as tossing something flashy in front on a willing fish?

Good luck!