We just dropped the Official Practice Video for the Team USA Black Bass World Championship. Cool insight on how we all fished the Vaal River while preparing to win the GOLD Medal. This is video 2 of the 5 part series. Hope you enjoy. - Scott Martin

Check it out - https://youtu.be/H4GJdVeBZ9U

Are black bass native to South Africa or were the introduced to the area?

introduced

I don't thimk black bass are not native to RSA but were stocked years ago, both blacks and smallmouth. Gerry Jooste, former multi BASS Master Classic qualifier thru the BASS Nation system and a native of their neighboring country Zimbabwe (formerly Rhodesia) was instrimental in bringing bass to many parts of Southern Africa with the assistance of Ray Scott and BASS. I have been there many times, fished the Vaal 4-5 times in BASS Nation events with my good friend Justin Karan and truly enjoyed every event. These guys are every bit as dedicated and intense and we are in the States when it comes to competitive fishing and it was very nice to be welcomed at the events as I was.

The Vaal is located about 50-60 miles southeast of Johannesberg SA and feeds out of or into the Vaal "Dam" (reservoir to US guys) and is a weir dam river impoundment. I honestly don't know which it is (into or out of the Vaal reservoir) but while it is called a river it is more of a "pool" with little to no current unless the summer rains create a curent flow thru that I haven't experienced.

I met Lionel Botha prior to his coming to the States at one of those events and he was a major stick in SA fishing. This video brings back alot of memories of fishing the Vaal as I haven't fished it in several years. The catfih these guys are catchng are called "barbel" in SA and between them and carp are probably the major species sought after by the majority of anglers. Tiger fish are furter north but SA does host a good population of smallmouth in the southern (closer to Antartica) and colder more rocky highland dams.

Just a FYI to what you are watching here, 'spoon