Austin Berge was just 3, and he was going fishing with his two older brothers and his mom and dad.

“We dug the worms in the morning, and he wondered why we needed worms,” said Amy Berge, Austin’s mom. “We told him the fish like to eat the worms. So we get to the fishing pier, and he’s holding the can of worms. He went to the edge of the pier and dumped the worms in the water.”

Austin was feeding the fish, just like Mom and Dad told him.

“He had a big smile on his face,” Amy Berge remembered.

Being a veteran kid-fishing family, the Berges were ready for all possibilities. They made the best of it.

“There were two worms left in the can,” Amy said. “We made them last over an hour.”

Since then, the Duluth family has invoked a new rule when fishing with the kids: Never let the youngest one carry the bait.

Austin is 5 now. He and his older brothers Alex, 9, and Conner, 7, are looking forward to another great summer of fishing with their parents.

Like lots of fishing parents, Amy and John Berge want to pass fishing on to their kids. And they’ve adapted their fishing style to accommodate the attention spans and expectations of their kids.

Here’s some advice from parents who have mastered the art of fishing with kids.

WEATHER OR NOT

“If it’s nasty weather, don’t go,” said Duluth’s Scott Van Valkenburg. “That’s the first thing.”

Fishing shouldn’t be an endurance test for kids, parents agree. By all means, take extra layers and rain gear in case the weather changes. But if the weather is already bad, stay home.

The Berges agree.

“Cold-weather fishing is out for us,” Amy Berge said. “We’ve even skipped opening weekend.”

A SHORE THING

To fish from shore or to fish from a boat, that is the question. If you have young kids, shore may be the best answer most of the time.

“Shore fishing was easier,” said Duluth’s Becky Carey, whose fishing kids are now 20, 17, 14, 11 and 9. “Being out in a boat was a lot harder. The kids would get a little antsy, and I was afraid they’d fall in.”

Duluth’s Maura Otis, a single mom, prefers fishing from shore with her kids, Jordan, 10, and Willy, 8. They fish from shore in the St. Louis River near Fond du Lac (“We’ve caught some fish there”) and from the dam on Rice Lake north of Duluth. There’s plenty of room for Willy to practice casting.

The Berges got a boat last summer, but Amy found shore fishing ideal with three small boys.

“It was actually, in a way, easier,” she said. “If they got bored, they’d go run around. And we got a lot more sunfish.”

“A kid never gets bored on shore,” Van Valkenburg said.

If you choose the boat, Van Valkenburg recommends clamp-on rod-holders for the gunwales. That way, you can put the kid’s rod in the holder while she’s busy digging for another Oreo.

Van Valkenburg also brings along a roll of toilet paper and a tin can for emergency pit stops.

The Berges let each of their three boys bring a small backpack with things to play with. Action figures such as G.I. Joe and Batman are popular.

“Batman went swimming one time,” Amy Berge said.

Batman doesn’t float.

“That’s what the fishing net is for,” Berge said.

Coloring books are popular with small kids, she added.

Van Valkenburg brings binoculars so his 7-year-old son, Jake, can check out ducks and other critters. Waterproof binoculars, most likely.

Seeing wildlife is a big part of fishing.

“We’ll see beavers. We’ll see otters. We see cranes,” said Duluth’s Otis.

HOW LONG IS TOO LONG?

The length of the perfect fishing trip for kids depends a lot on the age of the kids. A couple of hours is about right, most parents say. Maybe up to three or four hours.

And don’t look at it as just two to four hours of fishing, they say. Plan on diversions.

“We can do three or four hours in the boat,” Berge said, “but that’s not all fishing. If we’re on Island (Lake) or Pike (Lake), we’ll pull up to an island and have a picnic, let them run off some energy. One of the favorite things about fishing for our 7-year-old is picnics on the island.”

If it’s warm, some families take a break and swim.

Diversions can come in all forms. Maura Otis’ sons Jordan and Willy always like to go fishing with their cousin Jack from Ashland, Wis.

“He’ll eat an earthworm for two bucks,” Otis said.

DID SOMEONE SAY ‘FOOD’?

By all means, take food for the kids. For Valkenburg and his son Jake, it’s a tradition.

“We go to Paulson’s (SuperValu) and get a big bag of fried chicken and a bag full of goodies,” Scott said.

The Berges prefer individually wrapped snack items so each child can have his own. Big bags of chips tend to get wet or spilled. The individual servings contain the damage to smaller units.

KIDS WANT ACTION

Catching a big fish is the dream of all kids, but fast action not size is the key to keeping them happy. That means focusing on more cooperative species such as sunfish, crappies and northern pike. Stocked trout, fresh from the hatchery, also are eager candidates.

Worms and minnows are always good bets for bait, and a dozen night crawlers can be broken into smaller pieces to last a long time.

Most younger kids (under 10) aren’t able to watch bobbers for long. They need to check that bait, which means a lot of reeling and casting. If you’re jig fishing, use a heavy jig (probably a quarter-ounce or maybe 3/8ths-ounce) so the jig gets down to the bottom sooner. This isn’t finesse fishing.

The St. Louis River, with fishing piers on both the Minnesota and Wisconsin side offers lots of species.

“With the kids, we pretty much restrict ourselves to the smaller lakes, like Rice and Pike,” Berge said. “If the big fish (walleyes) aren’t biting, you can find the smaller fish (sunfish and crappies).”

Mitchell and a friend have been having lots of success at Chester Bowl Pond catching brook trout on corn, Becky said.

WHAT YOU’LL NEED

Van Valkenburg, who owns Fisherman’s Corner Bait Shop in Pike Lake, suggests starting kids on small rods about 4 to 5 feet long. He thinks those are much better than the stubby “Snoopy” and “Mickey Mouse” rods because the longer rods cast better. Also, the reels that come on those ultra-short rods have a poor drag system, he said. A big fish is bound to break the line.

You can get a combo outfit (rod and closed-face spincast reel) for about $20, Van Valkenburg said, including line. A few split-shot sinkers for weight, some hooks, a couple of bobbers, a stringer, a few jigs, and you’re set.