Phil Meyer Wins Big at Lake of the Ozarks with the Sleeper Craw
Phil Meyer took home $100,000 at the 2025 Big Bass Bash on Missouri’s Lake of the Ozarks — and it almost didn’t happen.
If not for a hunch about location and a last-minute tip to lean on the 3-inch SLEEPER CRAW, the outcome might have been very different. But in the end, Meyer’s 7.37lb largemouth bested the nearest competitor by nearly a pound, earning the SLEEPER CRAW a permanent spot in his lineup.
“A buddy on Lake St. Louis had been winning tournament after tournament on them,” he said. “He tossed me one, and immediately catching a lot of fish made a believer out of me, but I decided only to use it in the tournament.”
Following a Feeling
Meyer almost didn’t return to the winning area — a creek up the Niangua Arm. He’d fished it back in the spring and it “didn’t pan out,” but during a quick Thursday night practice he caught a handful of fish throwing a buzzbait between docks. When he went back on Friday and picked up the SLEEPER CRAW, the fish came quickly. Trying to fine-tune the bite, he put it away — and the action stopped.
“I tied it back on and within 10 or 15 minutes I had another keeper,” he recalled. “I was sold.”
Ready at First Light
The Big Bass Bash allows competitors to launch anywhere within tournament waters, but lines stay out until 7 a.m. Meyer and his partner, Howard Barnes, launched at 6:30 and were on their key stretch by 6:50, ready to go. As soon as the clock hit 7, Meyer put the SLEEPER CRAW to work — boating a keeper and several short fish in quick succession.
Halfway through the area, Meyer skipped the Craw under a dock sitting in about 10 feet of water. Before it could fall that far, the line jumped.
“Ten seconds later the big fish was in the bottom of the boat,” he recalled.
Securing the Win
The only question was whether the 7.37 would hold up. With fishing running until 3 p.m. the next day, and knowing 8-pounders live in those waters — two had been weighed in during the spring event — Meyer stayed focused.
So what did he and Barnes do? They kept fishing.
It proved to be the right call. The team weighed in two additional hourly check-cashing fish — a 4.20 and a 4.60 — adding $800 to their total. They even released a few borderline fish that could have earned a small payout, knowing it would take nearly 40 minutes to battle back to the scales through heavy boat traffic.
In the end, it didn’t matter — the next closest angler brought a 6.51-pounder to the scales.
Dialing in the SLEEPER CRAW
According to Meyer, the key was fishing the SLEEPER CRAW all the way out. While the big fish hit on the initial fall, others came as he worked the bait toward the dock’s shade line. He fished it on a medium-heavy baitcasting rod spooled with 15-pound fluorocarbon.
The winning color was Green Pumpkin Blue. Why that choice? “Because all I could find were two colors — that and black and blue, and I figured that the green pumpkin would be better in that water color,” Meyer explained.
Beyond the Weigh-In
So what’s next for the winning pair? After setting aside estimated taxes, Meyer’s first “splurge” was a trip to the tackle shop — for more SLEEPER CRAWS.
“I bought six and my partner bought five,” he said. “But then a friend came over I gave him one. I told him he couldn’t fish his tournament without one.”
