CHAMPION, Pa. - Anglers pursue a variety of fish in Pennsylvania, but no species means fishing like trout does.

On Saturday, the opening day of trout season, thousands of parents and grandparents will bond with their children and grandchildren in hopes of hooking into the catch of a lifetime. Countless buddies will hook up for the chance to hook up.

"There's a social component to the opening day of trout season that's probably equally important to the act of casting your line in the water," said Dan Tredinnick, spokesman for the Pennsylvania Fish and Boat Commission.

For a cadre of volunteers across the state, the trout season means an opportunity to help the commission stock trout, which are raised in seven hatcheries across the state.

On a recent Wednesday, Dick Lambert helped Al Colian, a waterways conservation officer, and several other volunteers stock 3,300 trout in the lake at Laurel Hill State Park in Somerset County.

"Volunteers are paramount to getting the job done correctly," Colian said. Without volunteers, fish commission personnel must unload the fish themselves, usually using nets or five-gallon buckets to scoop the fish from tanks on hatchery trucks. Volunteers also spread the fish widely in a body of water.

This day, Lambert, 72, a minister from Holsopple, dipped a net into the tank, filled it with rainbows, browns and a few golden rainbows - commonly, though incorrectly, referred to as palomino trout - and handed it to Colian, who released them into the lake.

The trout darted and splashed about in their new home before seeking deeper water.

"I just enjoy doing it. I try to make every stocking," said Lambert, a lifelong angler. He takes particular joy in seeing the faces of children light up at all the fish, certainly hopeful they may hook one later.

"You see them kids coming for a bucket, there's nothing like it," he said.

Across the state, scores of volunteer fire departments and churches hold fund-raising breakfasts for anglers and countless groups head to camps or state parks for camaraderie.

Close to 2 million anglers fish in Pennsylvania and the commission sells nearly 1 million licenses, about 10 percent to out-of-state residents. Fishing has a more than $1.5 billion impact on the economy, supports 14,000 jobs and provides $53 million in state sales and income taxes, Tredinnick said.

Over the years, the reason people fish has shifted from putting food on the table to recreation, with more anglers practicing catch-and-release, Tredinnick said.

In 1925, the daily limit was 25 trout; it's declined to the present limit of five daily of 7 inches minimum during the regular season.

According to a commission survey of 11,000 anglers, about 60 percent left the stream with no catch. While the survey didn't distinguish between catch-and-release fishermen and unlucky anglers, another commission survey of anglers who pursue steelhead in Erie County found nearly 80 percent release their catch.

Anglers don't have to travel far to wet a line; every one of Pennsylvania's 67 counties has at least two waters stocked with trout and many counties have numerous stocked streams. The state stocks 2.2 million trout on 40,679 miles of flowing water and 110 lakes, and private clubs add to the overall total.

Pennsylvania offers top-notch fishing with many famous streams to choose from. Anglers are loath to give up secret spots, but many streams are well-known.

Good bets include: Spring Creek in Centre County; Pine Creek in Lycoming and Tioga counties; Kettle Creek in Potter County; Tionesta Creek in Warren County; Lackawaxen River in Wayne and Pike counties; Little Lehigh Creek in Lehigh County; Pennypack Creek in Philadelphia; Laurel Hill Creek in Somerset County and Yellow Breeches Creek in Cumberland and York counties.