WORCESTER, Mass. - MassWildlife and some eager helpers stocked the waters of Lake Quinsigamond Tuesday with more than 2,000 pounds of trout.

Dozens of children on school vacation and their families lined up behind two MassWildlife trucks, where employees handed out buckets of trout to bring to the shore.

“My grandson, my granddaughter, we have two more grandkids over there, they love it, we all love fishing anyways," said Deidra Lincoln.

MassWildlife is reaching the end of its annual effort to stock hundreds of lakes and ponds across the state with trout. When it's over, more than 470,000 rainbow trout, brook trout, brown trout and tiger trout will be in the water.

Central District supervisor Todd Olanyk said it takes a lot of planning and coordination to pull it off.

“We actually raise these trout from eggs in our hatchery system," Olanyk said. "We have about three years of trout growing at any time. Every year we release about 500,000 pounds of trout across the Commonwealth.”

A handful of locations, like Lake Quinsigamond, also give families the chance to meet with MassWildlife staff and carry those heavy buckets to the shore themselves.

“We love doing this especially during school vacation week for the kids," Olanyk said. "Earth Day is right around the corner and we love having kids and families come out to the different locations across the state to help stock the trout and provide them a little bit of information about their natural surroundings."

Olanyk said while fishing has always been popular in the Bay State, events like this help to keep the excitement fresh for the next generation.

“When they see the kinds and size of fish that go into the lake, they get really excited to try and catch them later on," he said.

If you missed Tuesday’s event, MassWildlife will be in Plymouth, Pittsfield and Palmer on Wednesday, followed by Woburn and Westfield on Thursday. For more information, visit the MassWildlife website.