I wish I could fish the way I want to but it sound like not using shot is costing me fish. Never thought of this before, is a good thing I asked.
Clear, red, black ,yellow or fluorescent pink doesn't seem to matter up here as long as the rig is set up right and you have the right size jig in the right color. Have seen spooked, fished hard all day long wouldn't eat a perfect shrimp steelies hit a miniature jig under a 3" cork float. Clear floats might make a difference but it doesn't seem to as long as you cast well above the fish so that they don't see it fly onto the water.
Now the shot pattern could well make a difference here. I fish some really fast water most of the time and getting the jig down quick might well be my problem. My best luck has been when I had a shot down the line so maybe I need to rethink my aversion to doing so. I guess I just don't like anything down my line, gonna have to change that ideal I think.
Prime example, when I went Sunday, I fished the same hole with 2 other guys using a stealthy float that had a small profile and I used the same bait and rig as they did. The float the one used that caught the fish was 3 inches around, a bright green on the bottom and huge. Only difference, shot down the line, about 20 inches above the bait.
To be honest if you could actually see a fish bite with one I think you could use a bright orange water ballon for a float as long as you fished it right.