危地馬拉之旅:歡蹦亂跳的旗魚和冒煙的火山(2)

After what seemed to be a fairly short sleep, my mobile phone told me it was time to get up. I began to get dressed for fishing in the tropics (hat, polarized sunglasses, long sleeve shirt for sun protection and strong waterproof sunscreen cream), organize the fishing gear I'd brought from Hong Kong, and -- topmost in my mind at that moment -- get a cup of good strong Guatemalan coffee to start the day.
感覺剛睡了還不到一會兒，手機鬧鈴就提醒我該起牀了。我全副武裝地穿戴好釣魚的行頭（帽子、偏光太陽鏡、防曬長袖衫、強力防水防曬霜），整理好從香港帶來的漁具，還有——此刻在我腦海裏頂頂重要的——一杯上好的危地馬拉濃咖啡，用來提神醒腦。

After a hearty breakfast of huevos rancheros -- a spicy omelette with chopped vegetables and ham -- and several more cups of coffee, it was time to head for the marina. Minutes later, we cast off and headed offshore in a southerly direction. Seas were calm and within a short time turned azure blue in color.
吃完了豐盛的早餐——辣煎蛋卷配蔬菜火腿碎——又喝了幾杯咖啡後，就到了出發釣魚的時間。幾分鐘以後，我們啓航向南駛去。海上風平浪靜，海水很快就變成了蔚藍色。

When Skipper Rolando spotted a color line in the water, with deeper blue water on one side and greenish blue water on the other, he signaled to put lines into the water. By now it was about 7:30 am and the tropical heat was rising fast.
船長羅蘭多注意到水面上有一條色線，線的一側是深藍色的海水，而另一側則呈現出藍綠色，他示意該往水中放線了。這時才早晨7點半鐘，但熱帶的氣溫爬升得很快。

The fishing lines the crew put into the water contained a combination of fresh bait fish (mullet, tuna, and squid) and plastic fishing lures, but none of them had hooks. The purpose of these lines was to attract sailfish, marlin, or other big fish close enough to the boat so that I could cast a fly to the fish.
船員拋進水中的漁線掛滿了各種新鮮的魚餌（胭脂魚、金槍魚、烏賊）和塑料假餌，但都不帶魚鉤，目的是爲了吸引旗魚、青槍魚和其他大魚向漁船靠攏，這樣我們就可以飛杆了。

開始釣魚時，火山浮現在海平面上

It occurred to me that this "no hooks" approach to fishing was probably first discovered by the Daoist Jiang Tai Gong many centuries ago. Little did he know that I would one day be following a modified version of his style. of fishing, in far-away Guatemala.
我知道，不用鉤兒釣魚也許是幾個世紀前由道教的姜太公首開先河的，但姜太公肯定不會想到，有一天我會在萬里之遙的危地馬拉用改良版的姜氏釣魚法垂釣。

After 10 or 15 minutes, the silence at sea was broken as the skipper shouted excitedly "Vela! Vela!" which means "Sail! Sail!", indicating a sailfish was following one of our lures. Quickly the crew sprung into action, pulling the hookless lures closer to the boat.
過了10到15分鐘，船長興奮的喊聲打破了海上的寧靜：“Vela！Vela！”，意思是“開啊！開啊！”，表示有一條旗魚正在追逐我們的誘餌。船員們立即行動，把不帶鉤的餌線往回收了收，讓它更靠近船體。

I jumped to attention, fly rod and fly in hand, ready to cast when the moment was right -- when the sailfish came within about 10 meters of the stern of the boat. My fly was about the size of my breakfast omelette. Green and gold, I thought it looked appetizing, which was why I brought it with me from Hong Kong. I had a good feeling about this fly.
我也趕緊預備好，手握飛杆和假餌，只待時機一到——旗魚一靠近船尾10米以內時——就動手甩杆。我的餌料跟早餐的煎蛋卷差不多大，泛着金綠色，我覺得它看上去堪稱美味，因此專程從香港帶了過來。我對這一杆感覺良好。

That first sailfish was just a window shopper. After nosing around the lures for a few seconds, the fish took off, and I relaxed again.
第一條旗魚是來“打醬油”的，它圍着誘餌聞了幾秒鐘就揚長而去，我又放鬆下來。

As if to test my reflexes, within minutes the skipper cried "Vela" again, and we all sprung into action. This time, my eyes attuned to the task, I spotted the fish clearly -- impossible without good polarized sunglasses. In he swam, toward the stern of the boat, using his bill like a solo chopstick exploring some dainty morsels.
好像是要考驗我的反應能力，沒過幾分鐘船長又開始喊“Vela”，我們再次投入行動。這回我的眼睛很給力，清楚地看到了一條魚——如果沒有好的偏光墨鏡是做不到這一點的。它朝着船尾游來，劍吻（旗魚的嘴部，長而尖，似劍形——譯註）像根筷子似的撥弄着美味的誘餌。

第一次用飛杆釣到旗魚

Soon he was within casting range. "Now!" shouted the skipper, signaling to me to cast the fly.
很快這條魚就遊進了垂釣的範圍。“可以啦！”船長喊道，示意我甩杆。

This is the moment where timing is critical. As the sailfish excitedly pursues one of the baits (in this case, a fresh mullet), the crew yanks that bait out of the water, and my task is to cast my fly as close as possible to the spot where the mullet just was, just as the sailfish is looking for the missing mullet.
這時候掌握時機最爲重要。因爲旗魚正興奮地追逐着釣餌（一條胭脂魚），船員會猛地把餌拖出水面，而我要做的就是趁旗魚正在找跟丟了的魚餌時，儘量把杆甩到剛纔胭脂魚所在的位置。

In this case the timing worked like clockwork. The hungry sailfish turned to my fly, decided it was the next best thing to a fresh mullet, and inhaled it. As the 100-lb. fish swam away from the boat, I held tight onto the line and leaned in the opposite direction from the one he was swimming.
這種情況下一定要把握好時機。飢餓的旗魚轉向我的假餌，判斷這是不是除了胭脂魚以外最可口的食物，然後就一口把它吞了下去。當這條100磅的大魚轉身遊開的時候，我拉緊了線，使勁兒朝反方向帶。

The sailfish took off like a rocket, leaping clear of the sea in a series of majestic jumps. Line tore off my fishing reel as the fish continued on his blistering initial run. Gradually, his pace slowed and I began to regain line.
旗魚像火箭般躍出了水面，作出一連串精彩的翻騰動作。隨着它不斷地試圖掙脫，線輪也被扯得飛轉。慢慢地，旗魚放慢了頻率，我也開始收杆。

Some 20 minutes later, the crew carefully brought the fish aboard for a brief photo opportunity, and then released him again, taking care to ensure he was swimming properly. Off he swam.
20分鐘後，船員小心地把魚撈了起來，讓我快速拍了些照片，就把它放生了，同時確保它還能正常地遊動。大魚遊走了。