Lee Stauffer waded into Pine Creek last week for the trout. But he wasn't taking them out, he was putting them in.

Helping wildlife officials and angling clubs stock trout has become a time-honored tradition for many Pennsylvanians. Stauffer, of Shaler, and other members of the Allison Park Sportsmen's Club were there to help the state stock thousands of fish in the popular stream just north of Pittsburgh.

The same scenario will unfold on hundreds of other waters across the state from now through the opening day of trout season April 12 (March 29 in Southeast Pennsylvania), and for weeks after, giving outdoors enthusiasts a chance to get their feet wet before fishing begins in earnest.

Although stockings are often orchestrated by angling clubs, extra hands are always welcome and little to no experience is needed.

"A lot of people on Montour Trail stop to watch us," said Denny Earley of the Forest Grove Sportsmen's Association, which stocks Montour Run on the Ohio River. The upcoming stocking is April 9. "Anyone who wants to help should. We'll show them how."

Volunteers are a key part of the stocking effort.

"It makes the stocking go quicker," said Emil Svetahor, chief Waterways Conservation Officer for the Pennsylvania Fish and Boat Commission's southwest region. "That's better for the fish, since it means less time spent on the truck. And with a lot of people pitching in, the fish get spread out. If it's just one or two guys, they'll dump them in one spot."

Clubs such as Allison Park and Forest Grove sometimes "float stock" larger streams, which means wading through the water with a handmade wood and wire crate loaded with trout. It's the best way to get trout into even the most remote sections of a waterway, which isn't always easy.

"One year, our guys stepped into a deep hole behind a beaver dam and their waders filled up with water," said Stauffer. "It can be an adventure."

Native brook trout abound in many Pennsylvania streams, but the state augments angling opportunities through an extensive trout stocking program financed exclusively by the anglers who use the resource. Last year, it stocked 3.4 million trout, down from the previous year's 4 million. The fish come from trout hatcheries throughout the commonwealth and a private fish farm in South Carolina where Pennsylvania buys some of its trout.

Typically, volunteers gather around the tanker trucks, fill buckets with fish and hurry to various sections of the stream to release them.

Despite recent studies showing stocked trout migrate more often and farther than had been presumed, anglers like knowing where the fish went in.

"If you're a fisherman, you have the benefit of knowing where the trout were put in, which makes the fishing more fun later," said Stauffer, whose club has been helping stock Pine Creek for 50 years.

At lakes, where vehicular access is often easier, trout are usually sent through a chute attached to the truck.

Most of the trout stocked by the state are rainbows, though some are brook and brown trout and the occasional golden rainbow, a pale hybrid often referred to as "palominos." A small number of whoppers are stocked, to increase the thrill value, but the state aims for an average size of 11 inches.

"It's always nice when people bring their kids," said Tom Walsh, who lives along Pine Creek and helps stock as a member of the Allison Park Sportsmen's Club and Penn's Woods West Trout Unlimited. The two groups have worked jointly for years on improving Pine Creek, with the placement of limestone-filled gabion baskets, water-quality monitoring and litter collection. "Kids like the truck and they get to see the fish up close."

Earley said his group also makes a special effort with children.

"It's a good first step in getting them interested in fishing," he said.

The Allison Park Sportsmen's Club will hold its annual kids' fishing day May 17 at North Park Lake.

The event was recently renamed the Dan Wagner Memorial Kids Fishing Day, in honor of its founder and former club president who died Jan. 16. The event is free and open to all children.

Forest Grove will stock extra fish in Montour Run for its annual Big Trout Tournament, April 19.

From now until opening day, the commission allows fishing only on certain lakes and stream sections so it can rest most of its trout waters and complete its stockings.

Those sections are typically a mile or two long and are open all year, but anglers are restricted to catch-and-release and artificial lures or flies only -- no live bait.

The lakes are part of an early season program and are closed only for the two weeks preceding opening day.