http://www.worldseafishing.com/lure-fishing/spinning-bass/
Was a good read although I'm struggling to get my head around this statement and what it means
Boat fishing probably lends more to this as the tide plays a greater role than shore bait fishing. It's todo with the action and speed of the lure in the water.
First the action and speed of the lure is only partly defined by the speed of your retrieve through the water. The direction and flow of the tide also plays a part.
Imagine a stream.
If you held the lure in the water by holding the snood, the flow of water over it would cause it to exhibit it's designed action (spin/wobble/flitter/dive).
If you spooled out the line at a slow rate down stream, the flow speed over the lure is now less, so the action of the lure is softer (possibly not at all) and the lure itself looks like a fish going down stream (or not able to keep up with the flow of water).
If you then pulled the line back in, the lure is now travelling up stream the flow of water is faster over the lure than the surrounding stream water and the lure will increase it's action/flutter/drive.
Now if you did the same by releasing the lure up stream, the lure behaves differently again. As the lure moves down stream (in relation to your hand) the lure would first behave slowly (as it's travelling down stream), then as it arcs down stream it will start action until it's going at the speed that the stream water speed will drive the action. So you an see keeping the lure line fixed causes a dynamic movement as the lure passes the angler and the line starts pulling tight and the lure starts feeling more and more water flow over it (until it's fully down stream).
Now comes the complicated bit
retrieving.
Repeating the experiment again but this time with more line and retrieving at a constant speed the following occurs.
1. upstream of the angler the line will need to be retrieved at least at the speed of the flow of water, once taught the line will start driving the action of the lure.
2. as the lure approaches the angler and arcs around, the stream starts adding it's flow in addition to the flow caused by the retrieve (actually a bit more complicated but ..)
3. when down stream you now have both the maximum flow of the water AND the flow caused by the retrieve.
If point 3 is too much for the lure.. it over behaves, appears like a deranged animal and looks unnatural. The imitated species may not even be able to keep up with the flow of water in reality so dragging it seems unrealistic. Also for wobble/flutter they appear to not just wobble but really behave violently.
So if you substitute tide for the stream flow above.. working against the tide means the lure is being downtide of you and the retrieve is pulling heavily through it causing the lure to overreact and spooking the fish.
It's possible to let line out but in the end you'll need to collect it..
For some lures the line keeps it off the bottom and in the flow (by the fact that the line is actually in an upward direction (boats and deep rock marks are good examples). So if you have a heavier lure and you want it to not sink as fast then you need to raise the rod high.. if you have a floater then keeping the rod low means it will dive and not 'skip' across the water (although for plugs this may be desired).
Also from the text it indicates that the sandeels/bait fish aren't strong uptide swimmers but seek out cover in strong tide.. then when the tidal flow weakens they come out to play.. same for larger fish at wreck marks (they go hunting further afield in slack tide but then hug the wreck during main tidal movement to reduce energy used).
It's for this reason I got the lower ratio Spheros (4.6:1) rather the Saratoga (5.7:1) for the 6000 size. The slow retrieve makes it easier to imitate with the flow for lures when you have tide. At the same time the lower gear ratio makes it more cranky for dealing with the more powerful offshore fish like tope, rays, conger, cod and ling.
I've caught conger.. so my next targets are: Tope, Ling, Bass, Rays, Pollack and flat fish (I've not caught one of them pesky things yet).
It's funny - in the port pic above.. I was using a 3oz grip lead + lug bait on the little spinning rod - worked really well. Not as far as the 31g minnow, but far enough for beach bait throwing too. In the end you start paying for diminishing returns on the blank so getting a 11ft 1-4oz lure/bait casting rocket would probably result in an expensive japanese blank..
Tried a 7 hour stint today, squid, sandal, lug, sardine oil + breadcrumb slick as the tide came in. So nothing.. will give you more info over email 
), bass rod could (at a push) be used on a boat too for some long distance fun.. 
#grumpycat