PENN TOWNSHIP — Two men waded through Thorn Creek with baskets of rainbow trout Wednesday afternoon. One of them, a teacher, called it his prep work for an upcoming class.

He wasn't lying. Dave Andrews, a science teacher at Butler Intermediate High School, and Roger Davis released about 200 trout into the creek. Thirty of the fish wore numbered clips on their cheeks.

In May, Andrews' fishery science class will return to the waters with electroshock equipment. They'll temporarily stun the fish, note how far they've traveled from their launching point and then leave them be.

This creek has been a long work-in-progress for both Andrews' students and the Connoquenessing Watershed Alliance, of which Andrews is president and Davis is a volunteer member.

“We've done all this work,” Andrews said. “We're here today to find out if it's actually working.”

Davis said he's been helping stock Thorn Creek with trout since he was 12. Back then, Trout Unlimited did the stocking.

Most of the stocking occurs in the spring, he said, but this round is a scientific experiment.

“Hopefully anybody that fishes through here sees the tag and releases the fish,” Davis said.

The two men distributed the trout through about three-quarters-of-a-mile of the creek. They stopped at various structures built by classes and volunteer groups. Andrews aims to test whether the fish actually like and are using those bits of fish habitat.