Just curious, does anyone fishing for catfish worry about fish seeing their line underwater when using stuff like yellow braid, etc. ? I don’t mean fishing crystal clear water like Lake of the Ozarks, just the usual Midwestern ponds and rivers.
Been using bright yellow power pro on a few of my rods for years, haven’t been using any kind of leader with it. Was using bright green mono on the others, trying some of that Stren orange line (30#) this year.
I fish pool 4 Mississippi river and I use 80lb power Pro hi-vis yellow and I am never worried about color
never have and never will I use 150 pound hi vis yellow and they still hit like crazy
I think it may be more psychological that the fish. I have no confidence in hi-vis lines on cats, so I often don’t give them enough of a chance. I almost always fall back to light mono line. I swear I catch more with clear, light mono. Well it because that’s what I fish with and have the most confidence in.
Confidence (and what a person fishes with) trumps all. 
I went from 80 pound Hi Vis Power Pro to Cortland Hi Vis 80 pound Masterbraid to Team Catfishs’ 80 pound Nuclear Yellow braid over the last 10 or more years.
Although I use the same line for channels, flatheads and sturgeon, flatheads use vision very little in our neck of the woods. Struggling bait (or cut baits smell) bring them in, mouth opens…gills flair and bait gets sucked in.
Channel cats have the best vision as far as detecting movement.
Personally I believe all cats are color blind. However since the do have rods and cones in their eyes, it is possible they can see color with some light.
I guess my thought is if a flathead isn’t bothered by an 8 or 10/0 hook sticking out of a baits back, the line (and color) won’t bother them either.
Let us know what your findings are once you give that orange a shot.
Honestly I think the most damning part of a fluorescent colored monofilament line is the cut end near the hook. Look at these string lamps where light is put to the strands at one end and the other end, the one we see, looks like its on fire. Clear lines will pull light in along its length but the light is focused on that cut end. Whatever the line color, that’s going to be the color of the lit up point of light where the cut is. In spite of that, I don’t think catfish take offense at it. In instances of panfish I actually think that this illumination at the cut might focus their hits to it and increase the possibility of a hook up. Some fish will avoid that point of light. I’d just carry a Sharpie in my box and dab a bit on the cut end to blank out that light show there. But seen from the side, these lines don’t show much deeper in the water as they need the uv from light to show up from the side.
I’ll definitely post a few reports about the Stren catfish line…
My question about the visibility relates my considering switching back to a swivel rig. For the last few years, I’ve been using the traditional (in Illinois anyhow) slip-sinker rig where the weight goes on, hook is tied, and a split-shot keeps the weight in place. Guess you could call it the one-knot rig.
To be honest, I’ll probably stick with the one knot deal because it’s faster to rig (especially in the dark) and it’s also the most fail safe (re: confidence!) way to go as well. I run an occasional float rig when I’m not fishing close to snags (or trying to keep the bait above bottom clutter), but the vast majority of the time I just use the classic slip-sinker rig. Been my go-to rig for bottom fishing since I was a kid.
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Wow! 30 pound mono! How many boat lengths does it take to break out of a snag with that!
Not picking on your choice because I love the stretch of mono (25 pound Big Game) when fighting a bruiser but I’ve dumped it pretty fast because of the length it would stretch…also I was afraid the sinker would fly out of the water and hit a customer…and more so, ME! LOL!
That’s the one thing I didn’t like about the 25# mono, lol. I alternate Power Pro and heavy mono. If the rod has more give, I use Power Pro. If the rod has less give, I use the mono.
I figure the stretch (or lack of) helps balance things out in the overall setup. If I was limited to one line, I’d go with the braid…which I didn’t start using until all the folks in this forum were always raving about it. It is great stuff, more expensive but sure lasts a long time.
Confidence (and what a person fishes with) trumps all.
I went from 80 pound Hi Vis Power Pro to Cortland Hi Vis 80 pound Masterbraid to Team Catfishs’ 80 pound Nuclear Yellow braid over the last 10 or more years.
Although I use the same line for channels, flatheads and sturgeon, flatheads use vision very little in our neck of the woods. Struggling bait (or cut baits smell) bring them in, mouth opens…gills flair and bait gets sucked in.
Channel cats have the best vision as far as detecting movement.
Personally I believe all cats are color blind. However since the do have rods and cones in their eyes, it is possible they can see color with some light.I guess my thought is if a flathead isn’t bothered by an 8 or 10/0 hook sticking out of a baits back, the line (and color) won’t bother them either.
Let us know what your findings are once you give that orange a shot.
No wonder you fish cats! Big hooks/bright line—they ain’t as smart as walleyes! LOL
No wonder you fish cats! Big hooks/bright line—they ain’t as smart as walleyes! LOL
LOL! Thanks Steve!
Down here on the Mississippi using 80 pound Nuclear Yellow Braid (with the 1″ tag ends of the knots hanging off the hook and the two swivel knots) and a 8/0 Super J hook and using 5″ bullheads, we call it “finesse fishing” for walleyes.
No one tries to catch them because it’s like catching a pp crappie on a walleye trolling rod…and it’s a waste of a good bait. 
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Sorry Shawn…little off track again.
But I agree with your thoughts on stiff/flexible rods. I like to think the rod can be matched to the line speaking to braid or mono.
I couple thoughts.
When fishing for flats, even if they used their vision more, the size of the line relative to the bait is really small. Which do you think they would focus in on? Would they even notice?
When fishing for cats you are on the bottom and the line from the sinker back pretty much hugs the bottom. In that case, will they notice the line? Could be any debris sitting on the bottom. Line visibility is more a concern when pulling a bait or dropped down underneath a bobber and it becomes more of an issue the smaller the bait/lure is…IMHO
Lastly, since fish have no concept of a line or hook, maybe line visibility just represents danger because something just doesn’t look right. Or if a fish has been caught before, maybe then they actually “recognize” line as danger, even though we’ve been told fish have short memories.
Or maybe the line actually becomes the “profile” of the lure or bait and the fish think that creature is too big too eat or would be too difficult to eat.
Maybe I am giving fish too much credit.
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