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It’s sometime after WW III, the world
and mankind as we know it has come to an end. You’re left alone
in a biological waste land. When man blew up the world, he did it
with biological weapons which wiped out all life as we knew it
but left the landscape in tact. A very few new forms of life have
emerged in the old haunts, and you are one of them. You are a
Brown Themun. Themuns have three stages of life. They start life
as a Weeun, grow into an Usun, and if they live long enough, can
grow into a Bigun. Themuns are a very cannibalistic species since
very few other things exist to feed on. Biguns mate once a year
and have millions of Weeuns. The Usuns and Biguns feed on the
Weeuns. The Weeuns are the only life stage that can eat the few
types of poisonous plants left on the planet.
Weeuns are very fast, but not very quick. They
take a while to get up speed, but once there can outrun almost
anything. The only trouble is they can’t keep it up for ever.
All that speed burns up a lot of energy and after a long run,
they have to rest and feed to be able to speed along again.
Usuns are very quick for a short distance, but
can’t sustain much speed over the long haul. They can catch
Weeuns if they are close enough, but can’t keep up if a Weeun
gets up a full head of steam. It takes a lot of energy to be an
Usun, and Usun have to eat several Weeuns every day to stay quick
and healthy.
Biguns are down right slow compared to either
Weeuns or Usuns. But once an Usun grows into a Bigun, it evolves
a big net coming out of it’s nose. The net can’t be thrown
but a few feet, but since all a Bigun has to do is sneeze to
throw it, it travels lighting quick for those couple of feet.
Pity the Weeun or Usun that’s close enough when a Bigun
sneezes. Biguns are the masters of energy management. They only
have to eat one Usun each week to stay healthy. If they can’t
find an Usun, then a few Weeuns will do, if they can catch them.
There are some other creatures in this world,
but Themuns try to stay away from all of them.
There are Divers around. A Diver is giant
creature that can defy gravity and is absolutely silent. They are
extremely fast but can’t maneuver very well at speed. You
always keep an eye to the sky when a Diver might be around.
Divers feed mostly on Usuns. Weeuns seem too small to fool with
and they don’t show too much interest in Biguns. But even if
you’re a Bigun, you worry about Divers because they could
injure or even kill you if they don’t eat you.
There are also a few Lurkers about. Lurkers
are big, slow, and fairly dumb. They will eat almost anything.
Themuns can outrun a Lurker and Lurkers are so big, they have
trouble making their way into the forest or any of the old ruins
still around. But if a Themun lets down its guard or is injured,
a Lurker will always be there to take advantage of the
situations.
Maybe the most dangerous thing around for
Usuns and Biguns are the Foolers. Foolers look just like Weeuns
and can only be distinguished from a Weeun by the fact they
always move with a wobbling gait, kind of like they are hurt.
Foolers are poisonous and can make you very ill or even kill you.
If you’re unfortunate enough to tangle with a Fooler and
survive it, you may still end up easy prey for a Lurker. You’ll
never live long enough to be a Bigun unless you learn to
recognize a Fooler when you see it. Foolers tend to like wide
open spaces but lately they have been seen along the local paths
and a few were even found deep in the heart of the forest.
The world looks pretty much just like it did
before the war except it’s now brown and gray with old dead
trees and sterile ground. A patches of ugly brown weeds grow here
and there as high as your head, but only Weeuns can eat the
stuff. The weeds seem to prefer the shade, growing near the old
trees and buildings. All of the man made things are still
present, only in need of repair. Fences, houses, towns, and
highways are just as they were left before the war. A constant
low level fog covers the earth limiting your vision to only a
hundred yards or so, sometimes much less. The only ones not
effected by the fog are the Divers. They have excellent vision
anyway and can hover above the fog, peering down to ground in all
directions.
Given this post war world, being a reasonable,
prudent, (and terrified ) Themun, how would you go about
staying alive? How would you move from place to place? How would
you catch your food? Where would you live? Where would you rest?
What would make your fearful life a little easier? How would you
adapt to different conditions? There are no right or wrong
answers, (unless you get eaten), just guesses and reasons
in this world of your imagination.
Just to get oriented, let’s imagine the
landscape. A drive through the country should do well. Along the
road we see clumps of trees, ditches, hills, fences, bridges,
houses, side roads, and lots of wide open spaces and pasture
land. We see the occasional tractor or isolated clump of trees in
the middle of the pastures. There are dense areas of old forests
grown up between open areas, some of which may run for miles.
Some areas have steep mountains with sheer cliffs, others only
small rolling hills. How you choose to live will have a lot to do
with the surrounding terrain, and the type and amount of
available cover.
You were hatched into this world as a rather
unremarkable Brown Weeun. This was a very good thing since
remarkable Weeuns tend to never make it to be an Usun. You once
heard a story that there use to be Green and Pink Themuns, but
for some reason you could never explain, none of them seem to be
around anymore. You made it a point to not think too much about
it since that might be the deadly sin of Curiosity, and you all
remember when old Curious Charley went exploring and never came
back.
Right after you hatched, you could see not all
Weeuns were exactly alike. There seemed to be to groups, those
that like to socialize and a few Loners. That didn’t last too
long since the Loners like to go off by themselves, away from the
herd. That’s another thing you avoid thinking about, why after
just a couple of days, you just never seem to see a Loner
anymore.
The first real trauma in your life was the
first Usun you ran into. You had peacefully been living at home
in the grass stand when this, (to you), HUGE Usun came charging
through. You thought that day was going to be your last when the
Usun charged the herd as it grazed. You learned a valuable lesson
as the herd split in all directions: If you stick together, then
you’re just part of a mouthful, if you split up, then only one
of you is in real trouble. On the fourth charge, when you were
picked as the unfortunate one, you learned a second lesson, you
can survive a charge if you have something to duck behind real
quick.
As you grew in size and strength, you started
exploring the world. You found you could wander into open spaces
and as long as the herd stuck together, you were pretty safe.
After all, someone in the herd was looking in all directions and
on clear days, you could see an Usun approach long before it had
any real chance to catch you. You had learned about the dark days
the hard way. On one dark day, when the fog was heavy, your herd
was wandering the open spaces when it came upon a hungry Usun. As
the herd turned around, it found another Usun blocking the
escape. In all directions, Usuns charged out of the fog. In every
direction you ran, it seemed like an Usun was waiting for you.
Those that survived that day became more cautious of what day was
good one to explore.
Fortunately, you watched from the safety of
the grass that day when Brave Bob led a part of the herd out far
into the open. Bob had said it was too dangerous to stick close
to the grass that might hide another Usun, so he was heading for
open spaces between meals. That was the day you discovered you
were no longer small enough to escape the notice of Divers. Just
half of the exhausted survivors made it back. You never strayed
too far from either the herd or some type of cover since that
day.
You finally did learn to move from place to
place to find new grazing grass. You learned to stay close to
cover, but not to close. That way you could see an Usun charging
and had some time to react. You’d picked up the good habit of
positioning yourself in the middle of the herd and staying there.
When the herd broke, you were just one streak in a thousand, at
least while there still was a thousand. Oh, some still fell on
just about every trip to either an Usun or a Diver, but the older
and bigger you got, the fewer seemed to fall. This was very good
news since very few seemed left. The real problem was it seemed
like every day, the grass was less and less filling.
Then one day, it happened. You had been
grazing on some very unsatisfying grass with a few remaining
friends when a herd of very tiny Weeuns came in to join you. You
had certainly seen other herds, joining and combining herds as
you moved from place to place. But these were about the smallest
Weeuns you had every seen. Something clicked. You noticed Frank
and Sylvia look up and suddenly two Weeuns disappeared. You just
couldn’t stand the urge and snapped down on the top of Weeun
before it had time to react. Much to your surprise this
previously repugnant action resulted in a strange satisfying
flavor. From that moment on, you were no longer counted among the
Weeuns, you had become a full fledged Usun.
The first few days of being an Usun were very
good ones indeed. All you had to do was lay around in the grass
waiting for a Weeun to graze too close. A quick dart and lunch
was over. You grew quickly with little effort. But as you grew,
so did your appetite and the available supply of Weeuns on this
particular grass stand was dwindling fast. All too soon it was
time move on and enter the brave new and dangerous world of being
an Usun.
A new Usun could starve to death unless he’s
a fast learner. Cruising from grass stand to grass stand, most
approaches are noticed and the Weeuns seem to disappear before
your very eyes. You never really got a chance to get full, merely
enough to hold you over until the next meal. Constantly moving
and searching, there appears to be very few Weeuns and those you
do find are tiny. Your life revolves around finding the next meal
and rest is seldom long before hunger forces you to resume the
hunt.
During a quick cruise between grass stands,
you become familiar with another truth of Usun life, there are a
lot more Divers around than you thought. Only with a mad dash
behind an old fence post keeps you from being lunch for a Diver.
You quickly learn to keep an eye on the sky, but even then it
seems like you can never spot a Diver before it’s already
charging you. You abandon the open spaces and make a new habit of
staying close to protective cover most all of the time. You learn
that rest can only safely be done when you move into the forest
or hide in a drainage pipe along the old highway. You still
remember the lesson that there is strength in numbers and often
join up with other young Usuns for mutual protection as you hunt
for food.
During a brief rest stop in dense portion of
the forest that you learned Divers aren’t the only thing to be
wary of. It was the dear departed Fred that was resting only a
couple of feet from you that provided the example. Fred moved
over by a dark shady spot, well protected in all directions. As
he wearily approached, a huge black shape fast as lightening
snapped out of the darkness, followed by the emergence of the
biggest Themun you had ever seen. As Fred disappeared into the
mouth of the monster, you beat a quick retreat, not likely to
forget your first encounter with a Bigun. From that day forward,
you approach the dark corners with a wary eye and always felt
relief when you found it unoccupied.
Your confusion grew along with the Weeuns. You’d
see a Weeun in the distance but it would disappear as you’d
approach even if there was little cover to hide behind. It was
only after countless fruitless attempts, that you happen to
figure out the disappearing act. You were calmly munching on a
Weeun while surveying the grass for the next morsel when you
caught sight of one directly in front of you. Before you could
move, Clara started straight to the spot. Before you eyes, the
Weeun froze in place and faded into the background. You still
could see the Weeun frozen in place, but Clara stopped short,
confused and frantically searching for the invisible Weeun. As
you stood there, mesmerized by the scene, Clara turned away and
the Weeun dashed away, straight towards you. The Weeun had a very
satisfying taste as you snatched on it’s way by. It was at that
moment you realized that you became just as invisible as the late
Weeun if you simply held perfectly still. It took several more
days of failed tries before you came to the conclusion that you
also had to have the proper back drop to fade into. For some
reason, brown weeds or wood seemed the best.
Another use of this new skill became apparent
only a few days later. You were dining with a few friends out at
that new grass stand Herman found out in the open space. As you
were laying low, frozen in place waiting for the next Weeun to
emerge, an ominous shadow passed overhead. There was no place to
run in time as the Diver charged out of the sky. Danny made a
desperate dash towards the grass as you were deciding which way
to run when another giant shadow suddenly covered you up. It was
another Diver charging fast from behind you only a couple of feet
overhead. You were thinking back over the wonderful life you had
led, preparing for the talons in your back, when the Diver blew
right by, snatched Danny, and was gone as quickly as he had
appeared. Shaken but otherwise OK, it dawns on you that by
staying frozen, you were as invisible to the Diver as a
motionless Weeun was to you. File this one away under Prime
Survival Skills.
Feeding became easier as your first year as an
Usun drew to a close. Although the remaining Weeuns were much
fewer, they were larger and one or two made a good meal. You
learned you could hide better by staying in the shadows until the
Weeuns came too near to escape your charge. Instead of constantly
roaming, you started picking your feeding time. The darker hours
were the best as the shadows lengthened hiding you better.
Instead of going to the grass stands all of the time, you found
it easier and almost as fruitful to lay in the shadows beside the
forest or along the old highway. From here, if a herd of Weeuns
came by on their way to the next grass stand, you could simply
dash out, grab a bite, and return to your haunts with very little
effort.
On dark days with a thick fog, you learned the
art of hunting by stealth. Instead of moving along quickly
between shadows, you inched along every so slowly. It was almost
as good as freezing in place and you could approach a feeding
Weeun without being seen until it was too late. As you grew, your
eye sight became keener and more trained. Now you could spot a
motionless Weeun if you looked carefully enough. You spent the
dark days cruising from spot to spot, feeding briskly while the
darkness lasted, resting in the shade on the days too bright to
hunt.
As you roamed in your search for food, you
found there are lots of places to hide. An old tractor in a field
is a good place to rest. Dark sides of hills inside cuts and
ravines are natural way points in your journeys. Old houses and
building may be wonderful places to stop, but they are scary as
well. The last Bigun you saw was moving among the old ruins. The
deep forest is also now a place you avoid, staying instead to the
edges where escape from creatures in the shadows is possible.
There are places just too dark or well hidden for you to venture
into.
Ditches and old creek channels keep you hid
from spying eyes as you move from spot to spot. By keeping to the
low terrain, you can leap up to into a passing herd of Weeuns
while staying safe from Divers. You find other uses of the low
highways as well, because you aren’t the only traffic in the
lanes. Herds of Weeuns can be found traveling low from time to
time and you discover that if you hide in the shade of an old
tree, you can leap down on the passing herd and have the
advantage of seeing the open spaces as well. Bends or corners are
particularly good places to hide since there is less chance of
being spotted from a distance. Old trees or big rocks which can
sometimes be found in the middle of the ditch are the prime
places, but it always seems those places are occupied by bigger,
meaner Themuns and you rarely can take advantage of such a spot.
Yet more dangers presented themselves one day
when you were traveling with a few friends. You had stopped to
rest in a small ledge carved out of the side of an ancient river
bed, when a single large Weeun came bumbling down beside the
river bed. It seemed almost too easy, with it’s drunken lilt
and unsteady gait. Betty was closest to the Weeun as it came over
the edge, and dashed out for lucky meal. As soon as Betty inhaled
the Weeun, she started thrashing about in a terrible rage
attempting to disgorge the offending morsel. Panic washed over
everyone’s face and Betty sank down weakly in the middle of the
old river bed. The Fooler had done it’s damage. You watched in
horror as a gigantic new shape emerged from the shadows and
slowly approached, and then engulfed the helpless Betty. The
Lurker quickly finished what the Fooler had started. The older
you got, the more cautious you became about what you’d eat.
Only the change of seasons with the change in
quantity and size of the available Weeuns made one day different
than the rest. Right after the hatch, you spent the days gorging
yourself on easy, if unfulfilling prey. As the Weeuns grew and
became more substantial, the days were spent in a leisurely hunt,
picking off the inattentive Weeun with stealth and surprise from
the dark. When the Weeuns thinned to small, sparse groups, hunger
set in and you could no longer afford the energy to actively
hunt, instead laying in wait for a meal to wander past. All too
soon, Weeuns became rare and you retreated to the safety of the
dark places to sulk over your empty belly. The first year or two,
you came all too close dying of starvation before the new hatch
arrived. Weakened by hunger and without the energy to put up much
of a fight, you would have been an easy meal for any Bigun that
happened by. Only good fortune and good hiding places saved you
over the empty season.
As time passed, you learned to become a
creature of habit. It was much to your advantage to find yourself
a small home range and stay there as long as you could. Time and
energy was saved by knowing the best places to hunt or ambush.
Well know escape routes along with hard learned areas of danger
made survival easier if not sure. With time to spend to
cautiously explore, dark places holding Biguns or Lurkers could
be found and avoided. Home ranges were hard to come by since all
of the good ones were occupied by very protective owners. You
could only keep your home until a bigger, meaner Themun came
along. Of course, when you found yourself displaced or the food
ran out, you were never above intimidating a smaller Usun out of
way to take over his home range. In fact, you always kept a
mental list of near by ranges in case you needed to take over a
weak one or ever had the opportunity to move into better haunts.
It was during the desperate empty season on
your third year that you had your closest call. You were weak
enough to give up trying to feed for the most part and simply
remained in place as isolated Weeuns wandered past just out of
your charging range. You had even allowed a couple of smaller
Usuns to intrude on your home since it wasn’t worth the energy
to chase them away. It was a rather dark day when you saw the
Weeun stumble out of the deep brush. You thought it odd that a
Weeun would come from that direction but were in no condition to
be too choosy where the next meal came from. Just as the Weeun
was coming in range, one of the smaller intrudes charged hard and
snapped the Weeun up. You were infuriated and rushed towards the
Usun when it suddenly collapsed in it’s tracks. You stopped
short and retreated to safety to watch the motionless intruder
just as a Diver swooped down and disposed of the unfortunate Usun.
The Fooler had done it’s damage all to quickly and easily. You
made yourself a new law to live by that has saved you many times
since, "Anything that looks too easy is probably dangerous
and should be avoided."
It was just before your fourth empty season
that your life underwent yet another major change. You didn’t
seem to ever get full of Weeuns that year and became even more
protective of your range. It was with great irritation that you
watched the small Usuns chase and panic the few remaining Weeuns
that might wander by. The young Usuns hid easier and charged
quicker, leaving you little to feed on from your ambush site.
There was a point when you would stand no more. A rather large
Weeun was approaching when an Usun so small as to have no chance
jumped out and startled the Weeun. As the Weeun escaped past just
out of range, in a blind rage, you charged the pursuing Usun
intent on stopping this once and for all. You snatched the Usun
before it could react and gobbled it down out of spite. Strangely
enough it was a very satisfying feeling as you retreated to you
hiding hole with a full belly. You had just taken your first
steps into being a true Bigun.
Being a Bigun meant that all of the rules
changed yet again now that Usuns were on the diet. During the
next year or two while waiting for your net to develop, you fed
willingly on either Usuns or Weeuns as the opportunity presented
itself. In many ways, life became much easier as you moved up the
food chain.
You began to seek out progressively larger
Usuns to feed on. The youngest of the Usuns were still the best
and the easiest to catch, but slightly older Usuns were more
filling allowing you to comfortably go days between feedings. You
started ignoring the small Weeuns as not worth the effort and
preferred the larger, and at times much more available Usuns.
Particularly during the empty season when the small Usuns were
weak, slow, and the small ones searching for food, feeding was
easy for you and you grew even bigger quickly. The larger you
became, the more options you had on the size of your prey.
Foolers became less of a danger to you since you not only fed
less often, but normally fed on bigger prey. If a Weeun looked
strange in any way, having the slightest wobble or coming from an
unexpected direction, it was too easy to simply ignore it and
wait for a safer meal.
You had different needs now for your home
range. The small dark places you use to hunt are now too small
for you to comfortably lay in. Places that use to hide your
smaller body are now too light for you to escape notice. You now
must seek out those places that are pitch black with room to
maneuver. An area with only one such place is too obvious, your
new home must have at least a few such places to choose from. You
still can’t be too far from the open areas with the grass
stands since that is where your food will be. But the best homes
also have deep haunts to hide in safely away from any danger
between meals. Fortunately, it was much easier to acquire and
keep an excellent home range. Usuns are easily chased away or
eaten. Even other Biguns are no longer a mortal danger, merely
something to be avoided.
You managed your home range differently than
when you were a small Usun. While young, you jealously protected
your range from all intruders. Now, many of those same intruders
are your food source. You’ll willingly allow small Usuns to
move in your range just for the ready food supply. During the
good days, you’ll even allow other Biguns into your area rather
than disrupt everything with a fight. You can always defend your
range when tougher times come and the need arises.
Your size now makes hunting during the day a
mostly futile sport. It’s at night when the long shadows hide
your bulk that hunting is successful. Tired Usuns that are bedded
down for the night may be easily approached. With the practice
you’ve had over the years, once an Usun is in your sights, you
rarely miss. Night is something you share only with the few
Lurkers that are about and they may be easily avoided or out run.
Night is no longer something to fear, but your friend and
companion.
Yes, being close to the top of the food chain
is good. Life is hard and there were lots of lessons to be
learned. But a Bigun is a quick study, and you’ve done well.
There are yet more new things to look forward to, your net is
growing, making it easier to catch prey. There is this new urge
you’ve been feeling towards the end of the empty season, and
you’re getting an itch to roam and find other Biguns. The
future is very bright indeed.
Epilog
I hope you enjoyed our little story. A few
words to help you apply the principles. Of course our mythical
Themuns represent our bass and forage at various stages. Our
Divers and Lurkers the various predators they have in their
lives, and our Foolers nothing more than the number one predator,
our baits.
Although this is a very simplified model, it
does capture many of the basics of bass behavior. It’s not
meant to be taken literally, but as a guideline of predicting how
bass react to their surroundings and changing conditions. I hope
you will be able to think back to our model when you run up
against new conditions or just having one of those days where you’re
shooting blanks. If you can explain to yourself why the fish are
reacting like they are, you might find a key to getting bit in
the explanation. Fish, like all living creatures, learn and adapt
through experience. If you can now reason out the types of
experience your fish have had, then the exercise is a success. It
sure seems easier to think in terms of a general, if over
simplified model than to try to memorize countless patterns or
reactions to specific conditions. These types of mental models
have served me well in the past, and I hope will serve you well
in the future.
Until next time, Best of Luck and Good
Fishing.
Paul Crawford
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