Sea conditions vs. topwater lure choice

[Mahmoud Salem]

Hi all

Now I'm starting to have my collection of topwater lures based on recommendations from other more experienced members here, but I'm still alittle confused about when to use which type regardless of model or color which will come later according to more variables and preferences
I have chuggers, pencils, floating  & sinking stickbaits
from my understanding:
poppers or chuggers are more suitable in deeper areas to drive fish up by noise, but are not suitable when sea is not not calm as there is high noise caused by waves so might be unnoticed
Pencils are suitable in an active bite and especially for active medium sized GTs
Stickbaits are more suitable for rough seas(for no apparent reason other than that poppers will mostly get unnoticed), I think you can use floating stickbaits when seas are calm and angler just prefers stickbait over popper or is too tired to use poppers

I'm sure there must be lots of misunderstanding by me, I do appreciate if you can help me on how to decide generally

Mahmoud

[Brandon Khoo]

Mahmoud, I'm not sure where you got your understanding from but it certainly isn't in line with mine!

Poppers can be used in any conditions provided you can work the lure effectively.

Pencils can also be used in any conditions and sometimes, a fast lure can actually result in a traction strike even if the fish are not active. It is a fallacy that big fish don't take pencils.

Like poppers, stickbaits can be used in any conditions provided you can work the lure effectively.

[Mark Harris]

On pencils, I especially like using them when there is significant chop in the water. Particularly so with heavy pencils.

On stickbaits, so much depends on the ability and patience of the angler to work them. You might find that when it is especially choppy or the current is very strong, it is much easier to work with a sub-surface/slow sinking stickbait.  Aside from it being easier to work them effectively in such conditions, I also think that when there is white water, fish see the lure more clearly when it is just below the surface.

[Mahmoud Salem]

Mahmoud, I'm not sure where you got your understanding from but it certainly isn't in line with mine!

Poppers can be used in any conditions provided you can work the lure effectively.

Pencils can also be used in any conditions and sometimes, a fast lure can actually result in a traction strike even if the fish are not active. It is a fallacy that big fish don't take pencils.

Like poppers, stickbaits can be used in any conditions provided you can work the lure effectively.

And I thought I finally got it..LOL
So Brandon, How do you pick the kind of lures you'll be using , as it seems it will be based only on personal preferance

[Brandon Khoo]

Mahmoud, it's really more based on experience and how the water feels. There is little right and wrong in this except at the extremes. By that, what I mean is there is no point using something like a Gamma if the conditions are such that it's being tossed all over the place but outside of that, it really comes down to presentation more than anything else and continuing to vary your lure choice till something decides to eat it. We all have our favourite lures and default to these when conditions permit.

If the fish aren't biting and there is more than one angler, it makes sense for everyone to keep varying lures till something works