I had my first success cranking down to roughly ten feet and want to get into it more.

Would this depth range be considered moderate or deep cranking? The point is what rod power should I look for? My medium action and 6to1 reel was wearing me out and was wondering if I should look into a medium heavy? I was using 16# FC Sunline sniper with strike king series 5 (10-13 running depth) that only hit bottom with looong cast and rod touching water. Should I stick to cranks that run at those depths or drop my FC line size to 12 or 14?

I'd say 8-12 fow is moderate depth cranking. I would definitely throw those cranks on a MH rod and I might take it down to 12 lb. fluorocarbon, maybe even 10 lb.

 

I would try the rod power change before the reel gear ratio change.

A lower gear ratio will help you too,