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Back Creek

Type
Tailwater, Virginia (East)
Designation
Delayed Harvest
USGS gauges
3 live
Guides
3 nearby
Shops
1 nearby

Today on the Back Creek

Reading the gauge…

Regulations & access Guides & shops

Back Creek is a tailwater in Virginia, listed as Delayed Harvest by Virginia Department of Wildlife Resources.

More about the Back Creek

3 USGS gauges on the water report flow. 3 guides and 1 shop nearby are listed here.

Updated · Sources: Delayed Harvest Waters, USGS Water Data

Representative photograph of similar water; not a photograph of this place.
Representative photograph, not this water.
Where it is

Back Creek is a tailwater in Virginia. Virginia has 20 waters named Back Creek in the USGS Geographic Names Information System; this page is the stream whose mouth is in Bath County, the one the agency list names.

Flow now at 3 gauges
Reading the gauges…

Check any river's flow

Follow Back Creek for flow alerts

Pick one of its USGS gauges and hear from us when the flow moves into or out of its usual range for the date, or crosses a flow you set. We check the public USGS reading every 2 hours and email only when it crosses, at most once every 6 hours. Flow alone is not a fishing forecast or a safety call.

Follow this water

Signed in: one step. Otherwise we email a confirmation link first. Every alert has one-click links to stop it.

Where to fish

About this

Start from the agency's public access map. Nothing on this page grants or implies access: check the agency map, posted signs and landowner permission before you fish.

Nothing on this page grants or implies access.

Virginia public boating access sites

Back Creek on the map

About this

Gauges, shops and guides within 40 miles

Map of Back Creek: gauges, shops and guides

RestroomsAccess map

Map of Back Creek with 3 USGS gauges.

Map: © OpenStreetMap contributors · OpenFreeMap · © OpenMapTiles

Restrooms near Back Creek

Restrooms near Back Creek

Restrooms within 2 miles of Back Creek in a straight line, nearest first, with what anglers found when they went. The map says a restroom is there, not whether it is clean or open today.

Map of the restroom near Back Creek

Skip the map; every place is in the list below

Map of 1 restroom near Back Creek, numbered as in the list, with the water’s point marked.

Map: © OpenStreetMap contributors · OpenFreeMap · © OpenMapTiles

  1. Restroom

    0.7 mi away in a straight line
    • Vault or pit toilet (mapped)

    Not rated yet — be the first to tell other anglers if it's clean.

    Directions
    We don't know yet: is it clean? · free? · open to everyone? · step-free? — tell other anglers: show the questions
    • Is it clean?
    • Free?
    • Open to everyone?
    • Step-free?

    Mapped on OpenStreetMap · see or fix it on the map

Restroom locations and map details: © OpenStreetMap contributors, Open Database License, read Oct 24, 2026. Ratings, answers and photos are members' own; who shared them is never shown, and every photo is reviewed before it appears. Visits older than 18 months no longer count. Distances are straight-line miles, not driving. Nothing here grants access to private land. Community guidelines.

More water near Back Creek

  • The Jackson River flowing clear over cobbles through the wooded Hidden ValleyTrophy / quality trout water
    Photo credit

    The Jackson River in the Hidden Valley, Bath County, Virginia. Photo: Nyttend, public domain, via Wikimedia Commons

    Jackson River

    Virginia · about 23 mi

    Rainbow trout, brown trout & smallmouth bass

  • The Smith River at dusk between dense, dark green banks in Henry CountyCatch and releaseRepresentative photo · not Spring Run
    Photo credit

    The Smith River in the evening, Henry County, Virginia. Photo: MarmadukePercy, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons Not Spring Run.

    Spring Run

    Virginia · about 2 mi

  • Lake Jocassee's calm water with wooded mountains on the far shoreSpecial-regulation trout waterRepresentative photo · not Lake Moomaw
    Photo credit

    Lake Jocassee from a canoe, South Carolina. Photo: TimothyJ from Atlanta, USA, CC BY 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons Not Lake Moomaw.

    Lake Moomaw

    Virginia · about 22 mi

  • The Dan River at DanvilleCatch and releaseRepresentative photo · not Smith Creek
    Photo credit

    The Dan River at Danville, Virginia. Photo: MarmadukePercy, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons Not Smith Creek.

    Smith Creek

    Virginia · about 27 mi

  • The Elk River at Clendenin, a wide, slow river below wooded hillsTrophy / quality trout waterRepresentative photo · not Buffalo Creek
    Photo credit

    The Elk River at the Clendenin access, West Virginia (downstream of the trout water near Webster Springs). Photo: Jcyoung1981 2, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons Not Buffalo Creek.

    Buffalo Creek

    Virginia · about 39 mi

  • The Savage River running over rocks through hardwood forest in Savage River State ForestTrophy / quality trout waterRepresentative photo · not Mossy Creek
    Photo credit

    The Savage River from the Allegany Bridge, Savage River State Forest. Photo: Aneta Kaluzna, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons Not Mossy Creek.

    Mossy Creek

    Virginia · about 39 mi

Regulations

About this

Seasons, limits, special regulations and closures for each reach are on the agency pages below. Read them before you go.

Official designation: Delayed Harvest

Each comes from the agency's own published list; where the list names a reach it is quoted. A designation applies to the listed reach, not necessarily the whole water. Listed in the finder under trout.

  • Delayed Harvest

    On the Delayed Harvest Waters list (Virginia Department of Wildlife Resources, read 2026-10-20). All waters with this designation

    • That portion of stream from the Rt. 600 Bridge just below the Virginia Power Back Creek Dam downstream 1.5 miles to the Rt. 600 Bridge at the lower boundary of the Virginia Power Recreational Area

Guides and shops near Back Creek

About this

Listings marked Unclaimed are built from open map records and the business's own website: confirm licensing, rates, dates and hours directly.

Guides

All Virginia guides

1 shop nearby

All Virginia shops

How these are chosen

Guides whose own website names this water come first, nearest first. After them, fly-focused guides within 40 miles whose website does not name it. Distances are straight-line.

Shops: fly shops first. A distance is shown when the shop’s website gives its location (within 60 miles); otherwise the shop is in one of the towns within 25 miles of the water.

Guide and shop listings come from the Legendary directories.

Species and hatches

About this

What 3 nearby guide websites mention: what guides advertise, not a survey or a promise of what you will catch.

Named on 3 nearby guide websites

  • Brook trout3
  • Brown trout3
  • Rainbow trout2
  • Carp1
  • Catfish1
  • Largemouth bass1
  • Musky1
  • Smallmouth bass1

When the bugs come off

Regional hatch months: Southern Appalachians
About this chart

17 hatches charted for the region, not measured on this water. From North Carolina Wildlife Resources Commission.

  1. January: 1 charted hatch
  2. February: 3 charted hatches
  3. March: 5 charted hatches
  4. April: 8 charted hatches
  5. May: 9 charted hatches
  6. June: 8 charted hatches
  7. July: 7 charted hatches
  8. August: 5 charted hatches
  9. September: 4 charted hatches
  10. October: 3 charted hatches
  11. November: 3 charted hatches
  12. December: 3 charted hatches

Midges (all year) · Blue-winged olive (February to March, May, October to December) · Early black stonefly (February to March, October to December) · Blue Quill (March to April) · Quill Gordon (March to April) · Black caddis (April to May) · and 11 more on the chart

How we put this together

Named by guides nearby (within 40 miles), counted from the species each guide lists on its own site. No agency page we hold lists species for this water.

Plan a trip here

About this

None of our destination hubs is within 40 miles in a straight line. The trip planner builds a trip around the water itself: the guides and shops listed within 40 miles of it, its gauges and its nearest towns and airports.

No hub within 40 miles

Plan a trip here

Gear checklist

About this

A practical checklist for fly fishing small mountain trout streams: a short 3–4 weight rod, light line, a few buoyant dries and simple wet-wading gear, with estimated prices and where to buy.

An angler stands on a boulder at the edge of a fast forest stream and fishes the run

Small mountain streams

7′6″–8′6″ rod, 3–4 weight, floating line · Brook, cutthroat, rainbow and brown trout

Open the checklist
Videos for this water (5)

Watch: reading a trout stream

About this

Seams, shelves and soft water, shown on real rivers.

Public YouTube videos from established channels, chosen by us to support this page. Not sponsored; the creators are not affiliated with Legendary Fly Gear.

  • How I Learned to Read Water (Fly Fishing)Embedded from YouTube · Mad River Outfitters · not affiliated with Legendary Fly Gear. Watch on YouTube
  • How To Read The Water with Tom RosenbauerEmbedded from YouTube · The New Fly Fisher · not affiliated with Legendary Fly Gear. Watch on YouTube
  • Reading the Water to Successfully Locate TroutEmbedded from YouTube · Orvis Guide to Fly Fishing · not affiliated with Legendary Fly Gear. Watch on YouTube

Not sponsored All videos on reading water

Watch: nymphing basics

About this

Indicator rigs, depth and detecting the take.

Public YouTube videos from established channels, chosen by us to support this page. Not sponsored; the creators are not affiliated with Legendary Fly Gear.

  • 90° Nymph RigEmbedded from YouTube · Huge Fly Fisherman · not affiliated with Legendary Fly Gear. Watch on YouTube
  • Casting with an Indicator & Better Nymphing TechniquesEmbedded from YouTube · The New Fly Fisher · not affiliated with Legendary Fly Gear. Watch on YouTube

Not sponsored All videos on nymphing

Fish Tales

About this

Trip stories anglers chose to share publicly and tagged with Back Creek.

No stories from here yet.

Write the first story Share your day

Sources for this page

Not a statement of access, fish presence or conditions.

Something wrong?

All 12 sources and dates

A water page organises discovery. It does not assert public access, legal access, current fish presence, guide availability or fishing conditions.

Flows, gauge statistics and flood stages come from USGS and the National Weather Service when the page is shown. Regulations, stocking, species and season statements link to the agency that publishes them; this page copies only the species names and the quoted sentences. Guide and shop listings come from the Legendary directories. Position: the USGS gauge BACK CREEK NEAR SUNRISE, VA. Water type is our own classification.