i have used them alot and my friend also uses them alot. the time and place for them is in surface to just under the surface presintation and at a quick jurking retrive. we catch hundreds of bass and pike on them with this retrive. you just have to work them like you would work a spook on the top. if you try to fish them like a plastic worm witch most do you'll get nothing. don't get the ones that have the foil inside as they don't have much action. just like all lures they have a place and time to be effective. these are best as a quick, erratic bait, not as the slow worm style they are sold as. i am a topwater guy so maybe thats why i like them. since i get to watch the bait come in and see the fish explode on it.
one ex. of a time and place. my friend just drifted down a smaller river last week for an all day trip. he got 3x 18" smallies, 2x 16" smallies, 10x 14" smallies and 15 pike. he uses banjo minnows on this river exclusivly, while his dad uses spinnerbaits and stickbaits. his dad caught 4x 16" smallies and 3 pike. this get repeated over and over.