The beautiful Lower Mountain Fork River is a tailwater trout fishery located in the foothills of the Kiamichi Mountains in Southeastern Oklahoma. It is twelve miles of crystal clear, crispy cold waters filled with both rainbow and brown trout and is well known for being a year-round trout fishery and one of the southernmost naturally reproducing trout streams in the United States. The river conditions are just right for stocked fish to holdover year round and the for the native fish to spawn. The wildlife and bug life is so abundant around this area it’s something special. This little piece of Oklahoma is a gem.
It was early morning, July 18th. The blue wing olives started popping off which led to my client Gary getting a good case of Bentrod-itis… Somewhere amongst the action, I glanced up to find a gorgeous sunrise unfolding to our east. The warmth of the sun took the chill off the air and pushed its rays through the blanket of fog, unveiling the crystal clear waters beneath our feet. It was about time for us to move upstream to the next spot and I couldn’t help but notice some spider webs covered in dew. It wouldn’t have been right to walk past it without trying to capture it in some special way. I’m always on the hunt for the next cool photo. Thanks to the convenience of technology I was able to whip out my iPhone an attempt to capture the coolness. As I line up to take what I felt to be the perfect shot, my client Gary simultaneously walks into the frame of the web and added the cherry on top of an already epic shot. There is something magical about capturing the essence of what you see with your naked eye through the camera lens…and having that photo touch peoples lives. Photography is cool and fishing is even cooler. I dig it.
This article and photos are from Mo Prater (Banner), a guide for Beaver’s Bend Fly Shop down in Southeastern Oklahoma. Give her a follow at @the.book.of.mo on Instagram to follow along with her adventures and photography.
This is by far one of the most important in my opinion. Without a solid pair of sunglasses, the glare will put a lot of strain on your eyes. Saltwater fishing covers a wide variety of different scenarios; from the flats to deep-sea to even fishing from the beach, no matter the situation I can’t picture myself getting it done without a quality pair of sunglasses. On any trip I go on, I will take three pairs of Sunglasses. The first I pack is a low-light pair and then the other two pairs are suited for the destination and incase another angler forgets or loses a pair. Not only does it offer protection from the sun, but more importantly to see flies easier. Often associated with Saltwater you will have wind, this combination makes it a very high possibility to get a fly in the eye, which will be an instant conclusion to your trip…
The majority of my saltwater fishing is done on foot while wading flats. There are countless risks involved in doing this unless you have the right boots. There are many reasons to wear boots, but for me, it’s pretty simple… It protects my ankles from the unstable surface and the potential of twisting an ankle. If paired with good gravel guards, it keeps your feet free from sand and fine coral. The right boots will offer you quite a bit more grip when walking over reefs and boulders etc. As with anything, technology is so advanced that now they are made super light so they should not take up unnecessary weight when traveling.
With either warm or cold conditions it doesn’t matter, I never go anywhere without a rain jacket in my backpack. I have countless memories of days when the weather forecast didn’t predict the weather we had. Again, most of my saltwater fishing is done in tropical climates, so having a lightweight waterproof outer layer becomes one of those items I don’t travel without. Not only is it waterproof, but it can also act as a wind stopper. I have used the same lightweight rain jacket in colder climate areas while just adding a couple of layers underneath.
The Ocean is full of a wide variety of species and a lot of them often have some nasty teeth. To avoid getting a serious wound that could potentially end a trip a good set of pliers has many different functions. I personally love carrying the 
It’s the reality that you are faced with many dangerous scenarios that could potentially get bad really fast. At the end of the day, the goal is not to save a life with my first aid kit, but to be able to give someone a really good fighting chance. Another special item that has come in super handy in my guiding career is having Salt & Pepper or Soy Sauce Sachets in my kit. It’s an absolute game-changer that does not weigh anything really but it can turn a plain fish into something you look forward to eating. I would have to also mention as part of my first aid kit I like to carry 
One of the most difficult things for me to do is try and tell people about certain trips that I have done without any images. It’s a pretty damn cool lifestyle I get to live, and the least I could do is take pictures to share my experiences with the less fortunate who only dream about these places. Yes, my backpack often weighs over 30 lbs, but it’s worth every back spasm and rusted lens. Good-quality pictures will capture a moment for a really long time. Nowadays, some smartphones are almost capable to replace a camera to some extent, but it is still very different having a variety of lenses, drones, etc.…
I could easily keep going as far as important items I do not travel without. The above seven will go in the bag first, the rest is secondary.
 It was tough, when he mentioned the people that were planning to be involved, I was thinking this is probably never going to happen. Everybody is scattered around the world, but let’s see what happens.
We weren’t originally planning on making a film, just to get out there and get some content but, yeah, it worked out and we had an amazing trip and it was super cool.
Once you see the main film, it’s definitely got a kind of a retro feel to it. It’s really just a fun piece… That’s all it is. I never proclaimed to be a professional when it comes to movie making, but I think it’s fun.
Flylords:Â Tell us about the landowners and their part in this film.
He is one of the most well-known indigenous artists in the world. I wish that we had more footage, but unfortunately, when we went to go see him he was a little bit drawn back with all the cameras and stuff. He’s an amazing artist, an amazing person, super funny and I wish we had the cameras rolling all the time.
The fishing shows. I’ve never in my entire life seen permit or blue bastards that deep and stupid. The fish that we are presenting to people in this movie are some of the most difficult fish to catch in the world. There, it was pretty easy.
That’s what played in my mind immediately and I said to the guys, “I will never see this again in my life. I want to go over there. I want to touch it. I want to just look at it.” And obviously went very carefully around it. Even in the video, you can’t get a good idea of how massive that thing was.
On two trips they’ve done in that area only two were seen which is super rare. I’ve been told to send this footage to Nat Geo and other research companies because there’s a research program in Australia where they find it so difficult to see these things. They’ve just got photos of some dead ones. It’s basically like that mammoth tusk we picked up when we went to Siberia. It’s even rarer than that.
I’d say the majority of the time we were fishing ten weight saltwater rods. We used Thomas and Thomas rods for the stress, Mako reels, and then just a tropical floating Cortland line. Then a tapered leader with some wire and fly that we tied.
Flylords:Â What was the toughest barrier you had to overcome?
Fishing-wise we were very privileged… This place was untouched, so the fish weren’t really spooky and the numbers of bermains that we caught and blue bastards are just second to none.
The film also doesn’t show 
I even had somebody send a hate message on my Instagram saying that I’m a trust-fund baby and swore at me and all sorts of stuff. And it’s further from the truth. I come from no money and I’ve just been working at making all this stuff happen. I was lucky enough to meet some companies through hard work and they allow us to market what they have.
Flylords:Â Tell us one major highlight of the adventure.
And the second, was at the end of the day and we didn’t really expect too much. We went into these little waves, saw bermain tails come up, I jumped out like a Navy Seal out of that boat and made it. Of course, a vicious crush on the fly and it ended up being my first amarck bermain, which is just adding to the species’ list.
Flylords:Â What is your message to the viewers of this film?
The final “I got one” of the day was pretty insane! Tyler was in the back of my skiff and as I look back over my shoulder to see what he had going on I see this GIANT fall Musky. I started barking at Tyler to keep the line tight and the rod low, don’t stop pulling, don’t give it an inch, just hold it, use the rod! The fish fought amazing, but Tyler held his own even after the fish went under the boat and bent the rod in half… Fish hit the bag and I remember saying sorry for yelling, and Tyler from Texas said “Hell, that ain’t yellin!” A hilarious moment after sure chaos of a first Musky Measuring 48 3/4′ and I am sure was in the 30-pound class.
A snowstorm was expected to roll in from the south, and I presumed the pressure change had the fish flustered. They were picky and fickle. Unamused and lazy. But finally, they started to smack our olive leaches and bend our rods.  
