I've caught 25lb native steelhead, one of the most line shy fish there is on the bright yellow glow 30lb braid pulling plugs in the small driftboat rivers.
Kokes are far less line shy that native steelhead.
got 15lb green braid on 2 of my koke rods, 1 for jigging 1 trolling. works great. Better hook set jigging. trolling catchs as many fish as the mono.
I use florocarbon for my hoochie leaders but only because it's stiffer and gives a better whip action to the hoochie tail.
never tried rope but should work. we used DET. cord in Vietnam to clear stream crossing from snakes in the bank brush. got lots of fish.