Of all the thrills an angler can experience, few, if any, match the excitement of casting to a tailing bonefish or permit and watching anxiously as the fish eats your bait and screams across the flat.

Florida Keys flats and backcountry fishing are two of the most popular and gratifying types of sport fishing. You and a guide will actually hunt for, and sight cast to, the Keys’ most sought after game fish using fly or spinning gear.

Your inshore Florida Keys charter experience will fish the clear shallow flats around Duck Key, where you’ll target bonefish, permit, tarpon, sharks and barracuda. Or journey into the pristine backcountry waters of Everglades National Park, where you’ll catch snook, redfish, tarpon, snapper, jacks, trout and more.

Flats and backcountry fishing is ideal for both advanced anglers looking for a shot at landing a Florida Keys Inshore Grand Slam (bonefish, tarpon, permit); as well as for beginner fishermen and women who prefer fishing in calm, shallow water, as opposed to heading offshore.

Backcountry trips are also popular with wildlife enthusiasts looking to witness nature in its purist and most untouched form. On any trip into the Everglades you may spot porpoises, manatees, saltwater crocodiles, sea turtles, a variety of bird species, as well as a collection of plants, trees and flowers seen nowhere else in the world.

Hawks Cay Resort is home to a some of the best Florida Keys flats and backcountry guides, and offers a complete fleet of flats skiffs and bay boats that can accommodate two to three anglers per trip.