The skiff sits in a Mangrove-lined cove 35 miles south of Chocoloskee, Kevin Mahailoff is on the poling platform, Roger Hall sits behind me, and I am on the front platform, fly in hand, rod ready. “Here they come,” Kevin whispers, then his voice gets urgent …”I see him. Big Snook. You see him?” “Yep, I got him,” I begin to air out some line. “There he goes! Cast left! More left, More left!” I shoot the line with confidence some 20 feet ahead of the Snook who is pushing a wake ahead of him. “Wait. Let it sink.” Kevin’s always communicating. That’s why he is one of the best guides in the Florida everglades. “Now. Short strip. Short strip. Shor …. Fish On!” The Snook lunges at the little bucktail fly and turns. My line hand pulls back with my rod hand low and hard. I feel a hard pull back against the 50-pound shock tippet. The Snook peels off line, Kevin poles the skiff out away from the Mangroves and I can feel the big Snook surge toward the roots as I apply maximum pressure, just enough to turn him. I tighten down a quarter turn on the Charleton. It takes awhile. A great, strong battle. But when he tires, he really gives it up.The hook pulled free just as Kevin’s hand tightened on the Snook’s mouth. What a great fight. I learn so many new things every time I go out fly fishing with Capt. Kevin. He seems to draw out the best of what ability I might have as a fly caster and angler. There is a pressure factor I used to feel when I first started fly fishing with guides down here. Now I feel more confident and it’s definitely from the variety of experiences I have gained fly fishing with these excellent guides. There are many fly fishers who won’t use a guide out of whatever … some folks are just stubborn and cheap and think they know it all … whatever. But, I think if any fly fisher wants to get to be better, wants to learn more, wants a lifetime experience … well going out with a guide like Kevin is expensive, sure. But I think it is worth much more in terms of improving my fishing and giving me experiences I can build on.