KANSAS CITY, Mo. - Fred Jobe had a tackle box filled with plastic worms of every size and color at his side. But for the moment, he was ignoring the fakes.

Instead, he was reaching for the real thing - something that wiggled on its own.

"Years ago, we had been catching a lot of nice-sized bass on plastic worms off a deep point at Smithville Lake," said Jobe. "But when we went back there one day, they just wouldn't hit.

"I had some nightcrawlers in the cooler, and I decided to try them. It didn't take us long to find out that the bass were still there.

"We caught three times as many on the night crawlers as we did on plastic worms. More than anything, that told me that it's still tough to beat the real thing."

Of course, Jobe didn't need much of a reminder. He sells worms - the live ones - for a living. Lots of worms. Almost 8 million a year.

The owner of Minnesota Bait and Fly Co. in Kansas City, Kan., he sells live bait retail and wholesale. He ships worms and other bait to more than 50 shops throughout Kansas, Missouri and Iowa.

And if there's one thing he's learned over the years, it's that the lowly worm is still America's bait.

"When people want a challenge, they'll use lures," Jobe said. "But when they want fish for the table, they go to live bait.

"There isn't a fish swimming that won't hit a worm."

Indeed, the worm - the oldest of baits - still has its place on America's fishhook.

Oh, it doesn't have the glamour or the marketing of a shiny new crankbait. It doesn't have the flash of a big spinnerbait. And it doesn't create the excitement that a topwater plug will.

When fishermen sit around at this time of the year and talk about the baits they can't wait to use, you seldom hear the worm mentioned.

But however low-profile it might be, the worm is still king at the ol' fishing hole.

"If I had to choose only one bait to use, it would be no contest. I would pick the worm," said Bob Mattucks, a fisheries biologist for the Missouri Department of Conservation. "It's just so versatile. You can catch so many different species on a worm.

"The big thing is that it's natural; it's something the fish are used to seeing in the water. They might stick up their noses at an artificial, but they find it hard to pass up a live worm wiggling in front of them."

So, you think that threading a worm onto a hook is just kids' stuff? Think again.

Though many children get their start in fishing by casting a hook baited with a piece of night crawler into the water and waiting for the bobber to go under, you can erase those images of the tiny sunfish they bring in.

Worms will lure the big boys, too.

Take a look:

In Kansas and Missouri, fishermen often save nightcrawlers for a rainy day. Why? Because they will lure huge catfish during downpours. When rain washes nightcrawlers into lakes and rivers, the catfish often concentrate in that runoff to feed. That's when a night crawler or a river worm with a hook in it can be a sure thing.

Night crawlers also lure trophy walleyes in Kansas each year, particularly in late May and early June when the fish recover from the spawn and hit the mud flats to feed. As the water warms, aquatic worms hatch and rise from the bottom, attracting the feeding walleyes. A live worm drifted or trolled across those flats can be very effective.

In California, live worms - not the plastic variety - are the preferred bait for giant bass at some lakes. One of the largest largemouths ever caught - a 20-pound, 15-ounce monster - was caught on a ball of night crawlers in 1973 at Lake Miramar. Since then, many other bass weighing in the teens have been caught on night crawlers fished along dropoffs and points.

At clear-water lakes in the Ozarks such as Table Rock, guides often go to live night crawlers in the heat of summer to catch bass. At a time when bass often stick up their noses at artificial offerings, they readily hit the live stuff.

Some of the biggest bluegills caught each year are taken on red worms. Fishermen often find their best success in late May and early June when the panfish move onto their spawning beds.

Even through the ice, worms are often the bait to use. Fishermen tip tiny jigs with wax worms and catch everything from crappies to bass.

Still think fishing with worms is only kids' stuff?

"I've caught everything from 5-pound largemouths to 7- and 8-pound channel cats to big redears on worms," Mattucks said. "There are few baits that are so versatile."