If you are willing to troll the deep diving lure you can reach it's maximum diving depth using 10-12 lb test line.

Floater diver crankbaits with long diving bills must overcome buoyancy and line drag to get down near max depths. The crankbait moves forward about 3' for each 1' it dives; 20' depth x 3 = 60' to get down and it wants to come back up fighting the line pulling it upwards.

Easy to test deep divers by slow trolling them about 100' back of the boat over known bottom depth. Very few can reach 20' depths on a average 40 yard cast!

The deepest diver I found using legacy lures of standard size was Bagley Dredge, it's a weighted slow sinker and diver to about 22' with a 40 yard cast and stays down longer than other lures.

Tom

The pile im trying to get down to sits in 19 fow and the top is 16-17 ft deep, im thinking something thats suppose to run 20+ feet should get me down to the tops.. you say a 60yd cast is needed?? Whoa thats a long cast but doable with right setup and perfect conditions.. good thing is i can cast to it from any angle so i can use the wind if any present...

The pile im trying to get down to sits in 19 fow and the top is 16-17 ft deep, im thinking something thats suppose to run 20+ feet should get me down to the tops.. you say a 60yd cast is needed?? Whoa thats a long cast but doable with right setup and perfect conditions.. good thing is i can cast to it from any angle so i can use the wind if any present...

No, I said it takes about 60' to get down to max diving depth, that is 20 yards. You cast about 20-25 yards past the intended target and the crankbait should be at whatever depth it can dive to as it gets near the targeted area. Keep in mind the crankbait only stays down about 10 yards and starts coming back up with a 40-50 yard cast.

Tom

PS, a 50 yard cast with a crankbait is a very long cast! You can use 1/2-3/4 oz Scrounger w/6" Sluggo and work those brush piles a lot easier.

No, I said it takes about 60' to get down to max diving depth, that is 20 yards. You cast about 20-25 yards past the intended target and the crankbait should be at whatever depth it can dive to as it gets near the targeted area. Keep in mind the crankbait only stays down about 10 yards and starts coming back up with a 40-50 yard cast.

Tom

PS, a 50 yard cast with a crankbait is a very long cast!

Yeah my fault, i typed that wrong. Ive fished cranks but deep for me (most deep cover is 12-13here) is about 12-13ft and i can get down to that but cant get down to 20 with a crank although i didnt have one that ran that deep...good post.