It is good to know what is on your spool, sounds like Stren or Trilene regular, which are absolute garbage when it comes to quality, and yes, very visible in the water, although I have never noticed Salmon ever being line shy, I'll run 30lb mono in crystal clear water while plunking bait.
Good line to consider would be P-Line Green or Red label in 8-10lb, also a Copolymer like Gamma (haven't found it anywhere else but online) in 10-12lb since Copolymer has a smaller diameter to lb rating along with being very clear in the water. You could also use Maxima Ultragreen, but I'd say P-Line will outlast it in the long run while performing a knot test, the copolymer would be best drifting for Trout and Steel.