Fishing in the Quiet and Lovely Horner Water 浪漫釣遊在號手溪

翌日，保羅和李察帶領我們來到Somerset的另一處釣場—號手溪（Horner Water）。號手溪可說是李察老爹的秘密花園，究竟它有多隱密呢？當一行人去購買釣魚券時才知道，手中這張釣魚券收據，竟然是早在半個世紀前就印製好，五十多年來因鮮少有釣人造訪，以致於當初印製好的釣魚券迄今尚未使用完畢！
The next day, Paul and Richard took us to Horner Water, the other fishing water in Somerset. Horner Water is the secret garden of Richard. Once we came to tollbooth and buy the fishing tickets, we finally realized that the tickets we got, which was printed in a half of century ago. There are few people who know Horner Water, so the tickets still haven’t been sold out.

雖然號手溪的棕鱒不若昨日我們在坦河所交手的鱒魚精明，但是由於該溪流幅極小，溪流兩側林木夾雜，綠蔭遮天，因此在此垂釣鱒魚，完全是考驗釣手選擇標點和拋投的能力。為了方便在狹小空間內揮灑釣組，李察老爹特定為我們準備了一把6呎6吋的竹製毛鉤竿，而前導線也縮短為九呎不到。
Despite the trout in Horner Water was not as tough as we fished in River Tone, however, due to the stream is extremely narrow, both of the riversides are woody, and the trees even overgrow to cover the sky. It was the test for the casting and point-selecting skill of an angler. In order to cast in such a small room, Richard prepared a 6’6” bamboo rod for us particularly, in the other hand, the leader shorten to less than 9ft.

有了前一天與棕鱒交手的經驗，這回便很快得以進入狀況。小左首先依循老爹的指引下竿，沒一會兒功夫，一尾莫近二十公分的小棕鱒手到擒來。正當大家圍上前去，為這尾漂亮的小棕鱒感到驚嘆時，李察特別解釋，這裡的棕鱒是原生的陸封型鱒，長久以來沒有人來此放流人工繁殖的棕鱒，因此號手溪的棕鱒皆是當地的原生鱒魚。接著大軒與我也有所斬獲，尤其後來大軒更在一處不被看好的標點內，擒獲一尾二十六公分左右的棕鱒，總算一掃昨日的晦氣。
Due to having the trout fishing experience from yesterday, this time we got on track soon. Wesley followed the instruction by Richard, it only cost him a few minutes, then Wesley got a small brown trout which was about 20cm. While we were exclaiming for the small but beautiful trout, Richard explained that there was no people has ever released artificial trout in Horner Water, thus all the brown trout in Horner Water is native and landlocked species. Next, Caddis and I got some brown trout, too. Especially, Caddis landed up a big trout which was about 26cm in an unfavorable point. Caddis washed the bad luck away finally.

號手溪除了是尋幽釣鱒的好去處外，且因位在伊斯摩（Exmoor）國家公園境內，故假日時來附近從事各種戶外活動的人也不少。樸實不加修飾的小徑，不僅健行者往來不息，偶而還有騎士駕著駿馬通過。中午休息時，大夥便乘著涼風坐在溪邊的草坪上，一邊享用老爹為我們準備的三明治午餐，一邊分享彼此的釣遊經驗，真是人生樂事一樁！就在這一片風聲、水聲中，偶而夾雜著人們言談的笑聲，我們在號手溪渡過了一個愉快的週末。
Horner Water is a good place for fly fishing, and because it is located in the region of Exmoor National Park, there are many people come here to practice outdoor activities in holiday. There were a lot of people go hiking in the simple trail, sometimes horseback rider passed through the trail, too. When it was in the noon, we decided to take a rest, enjoying the sandwich which Richard prepared for us. It was a pleasure to share the fly fishing and travel experience with each other. With the sounds of breeze, stream and people's laughter, we spent an enjoyable weekend in Horner Water.