BIG BASS Forum
This Forum or Message Board should be of interest to all Bass anglers, especially those based or fishing in South Africa. Please let's try to keep things polite and orderly whilst sharing Bass fishing information, ideas, experiences and reports which would be of interest or inspiration to others. Questions are most welcome and anyone may post answers or responses. To see your message after you have posted it, just click on the "Refresh" button on your browser. Let's make this Forum work for us!
Well, BrushHog
Funny that you should ask 
...
A whole lot of Bass (Northern strain and Smallmouth) were released into various dams in the former Northern and Eastern Transvaal by the old TVL Nature Conservation in the late 1960s and throughout the 1970's. I do know that certain private and public waters in the old Northern Transvaal and Venda areas definitely were at some stage stocked with Smallmouths. Even Loskop Dam received some Smallmouths and Largemouths (where are they today??).
It may be that Rust der Winter got a quota of Smallmouths, but I am not 100% sure ...
The Smallmouths may all but have disappeared in the really hot areas if the waters and general habitat were not to their liking (hot and murky instead of cool and clear with rocks and gravel which is the preferred Smallmouth habitat). Even the regular Northern strain Largemouths did not do too well in places such as Hartbeespoort and Loskop. Literally millions of northern strain Largemouth fingerlings were stocked in Hartbeespoort, but it was not until the Florida strain was introduced there in the early 1990's that made Hartbeespoort what it is today - a recognised Bass water!
Some areas of the old Eastern Transvaal (now Mpumamlanga), Eastern Cape and Western Cape have self-sustainable populations of Smallies.
Perhaps someone else could shed some more light on this?
Stay well, BrushHog 
Jacques
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Replying to:
Hi Jacques & all.
I would like to know if there's smallmouth BASS in Rustdewinter dam?Just a question.Hope all had a good weekend.
Greetings.
Brush Hogg.
