My first ever 'Fishing Post' cause I need your expertise. I bass fish (largemouth) and decided to buy two heavier rods to fish through the heavier cover. So the rods and reels worked out fine but I am not so happy with the line. I fished from 6:00am till 3:00pm and caught one fish that I pulled out of the weeds on a 7" plastic worm. This is a deep Illinois clear lake that holds plenty of bass and I've always done much better on this lake.

So I bought and loaded two reels with 50lb Spiderwire ultracast invisi-braid (translucent). Since using braid is new to me it looked decent enough when I put it on the reels. But in the water it looked like a white rope to me. I could see the line all the way down to the lures I was using today. I had several small bass and a 3' grass carp actually swim up to the line and look at it, paying no attention to the lure, then swim away...the FBI calls that a 'Clue'.

So do you all recommend I size down to 30lb braid and would please give me your top three picks for the right braid to use?

P.S. I don't want to hassle with tying on a leader...just want to use braid...my sincerest thanks to all who help this misguided fisherman!

I never run straight braid.  Tie a fluorocarbon leader with a uni to uni knot.

So do you think 30lb braid what brand(s) and w/ what size and brand(s) of Flurocarbon?...and thank you!

Tie a leader.

If you’re using a baitcaster you can always put on some fluoro instead of the braid.

Usually with 50lb braid that would be for something like frog fishing or punching through heavy cover.

If I’m using my worm rod, I have 15lb braid without a leader because the water I’m fishing in is pretty stained.

With it being clear, I’d use a fluoro leader.

I ditched braid years ago and went back to 15# Trilene Big Game. But before I ditched I used it on a carolina Rig with a 7-8" lizard.

After considering everything this is what I did (15# Big Game).  So I went fishing two days ago and caught eight bass.
Four were 1 1/2 lbs and less and four were 2 3/4 - 3 3/4 lbs.  Six of the bass I caught using 7" Strike King Plum Kut-R worm with 1/2oz pegged weight and two bass with 3'-5' depth running square bill crank bait. All the bigger bass were caught in 10' -15' of water along beds of weeds. Thanks for all your replies. I suppose I'll just stick with my Berkley Big Game line so as to not make things too complicated.

I don't fish super clear lakes....but they sometimes have 5-6 feet of visibility.

I only fish braid(25lb to 65lb power pro) and I generally catch fish at the same rate my buddies do and they have all that fancy flouro leaders.

Maybe the lakes I fish aren't fished hard enough for fish to be line shy, not sure.  Never had a problem with it though, and I love braid.

The only thing i use Mono for anymore are my big catfish rigs.  100lb mono doesn't get torn up by the catfish 'teeth' nearly as bad as braid does.  I hate the way mono stretches as a mainline.

Well, I did finally take a reel and put 40lb KastKing Vis-gray braid and it seemed to work just fine w/out adding any leader. I know a lot of fisherman tie flurocarbon leaders but I just don't want to buy/hassle with yet another fishing line. I'll stick w/ straight braid on my heavy rods and mono on my other rods. Thank you all for your input; it really did help me to decide. Have a blessed time fishing!!

Happy to help!

Glad you had some luck with the braid!

I usually use 20 or 30 lb power pro with no leader, even here in Florida.  A little tip that may give you a bit more confidence, get a magic marker in a contrasting color to your line and color your line with a mark every foot or so for about 10 feet from your lure. ( I use black or brown). This breaks up the solid color of your line in the water.

This.
I keep a fat sharpie in my kayak's cup holder for that.

Just like everyone says - I use a leader -7 feet FC using FG knot.

For spinning rods, I go 10 lbs braid line with 7 feet leader of 10lbs using FG knot or Alberto Knot

For baitcaster, I tend to run 40lbs for bottom contact only (Texas Rig/Jigs)