By Brandon Hill – Before we begin, I must say I have a deep love for Struben dam so my opinion may be slightly biased.
THE DAM
It is the dam where I learnt to ‘specimen’ and even though it is only a day session dam (no camping allowed) it is probably the water that I have the most hours next to. The dam is situated in the middle of Pretoria east in the suburb of Menlyn. A stones throw from Menlyn mall. Its a public dam so swims are always scarce as anglers race there every weekend. There are only 6 swims around the dam – nicely marked out and anglers have to sign in when entering the gate. Specimen anglers have been targeting this venue for years now and it is truly one of the very few beautiful little park lakes around.
Struben Dam can absolutely destroy your confidence one day and then the next day have you believing you are the best thing since bubblegum! It all comes down to timing, the fish in Struben prefer to feed early mornings and late afternoons…as late as you can push the security before they kick you out! Before the sewerage spill in 2015 there used to be fish of up to 13kg in that dam – and a few big mirrors too but unfortunately the big girls died in the spill but luckily some of the young ones survived and are thriving now that the population took a knock. Today the average fish is about 5kg and the biggest we’ve seen after the spill was a 10kg fish. So its well worth a shot if your fishing time (or budget) is limited.
Bait:
Pre feeding is not recommended at Struben. Stick to fishing tight to the margins, close to reeds and structures such as the jetty and island (within 2m from it actually) and just a hand full of bait around your hookbait. Never leave before 18:00! Some of the best fish came out at 17:50!
Baits and flavours that work:
Psycho Original/ Skitzo
Banana, Peach, sweetcorn and chocolate. – Something visual is good like yellow or pink
Approach:
The gates open at 06:00 and close at 18:00. If you fishing weekends and want a spot, go early, very early eg. 4AM! If you have a morning off in the week I suggest you give it a bash whilst the sun rises, lets say til 10:00. Once the sun starts baking the water I have generally found the fish to become less active, there are obviously the odd one or two that get suckered by a well placed banana or chocolate boilie on the islands margin during the day.
The real winner is arriving at Struben at 16:30 after a long day at work, finding a swim open and attacking the margins, jetty, island and overhanging trees. At this point, in my experience, what you have on your hook doesn’t really matter, all that matters is that you are now in the correct spot!
What can happen in 1hr 30mins you ask? Well why don’t you go and find out for yourself!
Struben Dam Bird Sanctuary 012 3581510
Entrance; Free
Times; 06:00-18:00
Pet Friendly (don’t be surprised if some of the dams locals stop and have a chat)
Good luck, I hope she is kind to you!
Check out this video of a 3hr session one friday afternoon – https://carpsa.co.za/struben-short-sessions-part-1/
