Cooper River, Camden, NJ Fishing Report

Consecutive Mornings On The Cooper River

Went to the Cooper River in search of carp the last two days. The girlfriend is out of town and I start school back up on Monday, so I got up early both mornings and hit the river.

Friday wasn't a super early start. I got to the river around 730. I chummed with canned corn and had two rods set up for carp: my new shimano Stradic 4000 on an Abu Garcia veritas (I think, not 100% sure the rod's name) and a considerably lesser rod and reel set up that I couldn't tell you the names of, but works all the same. I started with smaller weights, but the current proved to be stronger than it looked, so I quickly switched to a half ounce egg sinker on one rod followed by a snap swivel and a size 6 eagle claw snelled baitholder hook. On my Stradic I had a 1 oz egg sinker with the same set-up.

After switching my weights, I started getting bit. I caught a pretty big (for the ones I've caught) channel (I believe) catfish. I didn't realize how big it was, and tried to swing it, pulling the hook from its mouth in the process. I'd guess it was well over 6 pounds.

I proceeded to catch 2 more smaller catfish, one looked like a channel, but I couldn't tell you what the other was (I don't really know the differences between them). I also caught what I believe was a common shiner, but I'm not sure. I then hooked into a turtle, who was not pleased. I had never caught one before, so that was a first to me.

After cutting the hook which I had no chance of removing from the turtle, I reset and got my line back out. Not long later, one of my rods's drag started going and I set the hook and started reeling. All off a sudden, the drag on my other rod started screaming. The fish on the second rod was much bigger so I put the other rod down and fought the bigger fish. Upon reeling it in, I realized I was staring at the same big cat I caught earlier (95% positive). I had another mental lapse and tried to swing it again so I could get to the other fish. That means no picture, but I didn't have any problems getting the big one off as the earlier swinging incident repeated itself. I reeled in the smaller fish and tossed it back, still disappointed I mishandled the same fish twice.

I stayed a bit longer, but didn't have any luck. I packed up and left around 1030am so I could pick up my books for the semester.

Later that day I drove down to my usual spot, found three other fisherman and headed to newton lake. I did more driving around than fishing, but feel like I eliminated some dead water I won't be fishing in the future, hopefully saving me a headache another day. I threw a black top water frog a bit, but didn't have any success.

I was back after it this morning on the river, except this time I had my lines in the water by about 630. I also made a conscientious decision to try and take photos of all my catches for y'all.

Started off slow, but the first time I checked my baits I found that I had a double hookup of small catfish. I caught a few more catfish varying from small to medium, and another turtle(!).

The highlight of the day came about a half hour before I ended my trip at 1015am. My drag started screaming on my Stradic just as I had walked 10 yards away to look at a splash on the other side of the river. The fish almost pulled my brand new reel in the water, but the rod holder held and I was able to get to it and set the hook. By the time I started reeling, the fish had taken off straight for the middle of the river and was peeling off drag. I tightened my drag a bit and steered the fish back to me. It came right for the bank and I was able to make up a lot of line. I saw the second carp I've ever caught surface once, and really started to get excited when I realized how much bigger than my first one it was. I don't have a net, but luckily another fisherman was nearby. He grabbed the rod while I got on my chest and scooped the carp out of the water. It sounds graceful and quick, but it probably two 2 and 1/2 minutes of incredibly stressful wrangling before I got a good hold on the not very tired fish (if you remember, it came back to me fast and hard, so I didn't get much of a chance to tire it out).

I got a few pictures and released the fish. I stayed a bit longer with no more luck and packed up. Pretty decent couple of days.

• Added By: rutgerslawfishing on 08/20/16 06:40 PM
• Location: Cooper River, Camden, NJ
• Report Date: 8/19/2016 - 8/20/2016
• # of Hotspots: 1
• # of Photos: 1
• # of Fish Caught: 10
• Learn more about Cooper River, Camden, NJ fishing in our fishing message boards