Eurana Park in Weatherly is open for fishing — for free.

Weatherly Borough Council on Monday gave up on a pay-to-fish proposal at the lake due to costs, staffing concerns and the lack of fish.

“The park manager has been looking to see if he can see any fish for weeks, and he’s not seeing anything,” Borough Manager Tracy Grover said. “He’s throwing fish food in, and there’s nothing coming to the surface.”

She believed the borough would have to pay to stock the small lake to make the program work.

“That’s a big expense,” said Councilman Joe Cyburt, who first questioned if there was any fish activity in the lake with predators, such as eagles, frequenting the lake to feed.

Cyburt pointed out that they had previously discussed the expense to stock the lake and then asked if it would be possible for someone else to come in and run a pay-to-fish program.

Solicitor James Nanovic said if the borough gave permission, it would be, and Grover asked about the restrictions on the deed. Nanovic said this would be for park purposes, so it would be no different from having an ice cream or concession stand.

Councilman Jeffrey Miller asked if they allowed someone to run a fishing program, would they need their own insurance, and Nanovic said that he would suggest that they would.

Cyburt ventured that it probably wouldn’t be worth the effort for someone to come in from the outside, because there’s not a lot of money to be made without the insurance costs.

“This was never going to be a moneymaker,” Nanovic said, recalling past conversations with council on the program. “Anyone who wished to come in here and try to make money off it, I don’t see how they could.”

Cyburt pointed out that the borough is already looking to hire employees for its office, streets department and police, and Mayor/Council President Michael Bellizia said they’re also going to need summer help and the help at the concession stand.

“Is anyone opposed to just permitting fishing there?” Bellizia asked council.

Miller suggested they just let people fish for free and have a good time, and Nanovic said they could.

“I don’t think you’d get a lot of people going out there to fish, if there’s no fish,” he said. “But you could certainly do that.”

Councilman Norman Richie suggested that the borough put up signs saying, “Fish at your own risk.”

Both Cyburt and Bellizia said that the pay-to-fish program probably wasn’t going to break even, and likely would have cost the borough money, especially if they’re staffing the lake and no one shows up.

Bellizia said that the school district might be interested in hatching and stock fish for the lake, and they could ask if they’d be interested in putting fish in the lake.

Council agreed to open the lake to fishing during park hours and participants need to abide by state fishing laws.

The borough had been working toward a recreational fishing program for more than two years and establishing rules and fees and was working toward an opening day late last summer but didn’t have enough time to get the program off the ground.