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.
