There's an easier solution: Make transparent line with a refractive index as close to water's as you can get. That's what fluorocarbon line is, as I understand it.
It has some downsides, though: it's a little stiffer and thus harder to tie knots in. It's less resistant to abrasion (being dragged over rocks, etc.). But it mostly disappears in water.
That's what fluorocarbon line is, as I understand it.
That's my understanding as well. That said, I hate fluoro line, especially on spinning reels, as the extra stiffness gives it a tendency to want to come off the spool already. Add in any extra "weird" factor like a badly timed gust of wind when casting, and you wind up with a big tangled birds-nest of line wrapped all around your reel. :-(
OTOH, there's a another "superline" formulation out there, that is made of the same material as braided line, but it's fused instead of braided together. The Berkley Fireline Crystal version claims to be nearly invisible in water (similar to fluoro) while still having the strength, suppleness, etc. of braid. I've been using it for a while and have been pretty happy with it.
Yeah, I've heard enough mixed things about fluoro that I haven't tried it yet. I almost exclusively fish for panfish using ultralight gear, so I just stick with mono like I've been using since I was a kid.
Yeah, if you're fishing for panfish it probably doesn't matter a whole lot. And truth be told, the extreme suppleness of braid does sometimes cause its own issues - for example, I find that braid is more likely to get tangled up in/around your terminal tackle on a bad cast (or again, due to a wind gust, etc). For example, I mean cases where your line gets caught up in the treble hooks on a jerkbait or crankbait or something, or gets caught up in the blades on a spinerbait, stuff like that.
It has some downsides, though: it's a little stiffer and thus harder to tie knots in. It's less resistant to abrasion (being dragged over rocks, etc.). But it mostly disappears in water.