Back Bay is a unique estuary in Southeastern Virginia. The waterway is located between Pungo and Sandbridge, Virginia.
Access for fishing is available at Back Bay National Wildlife Refuge, Princess Anne Wildlife Management Area, Mill Landing Boat Ramp, and a number of private marinas and other facilities.
Near the North Carolina Border, Back Bay connects to Currituck Sound via Knotts Island Bay.
In the 1970’s, Back Bay produced one of the top largemouth bass fisheries in the USA. Fishing for trophy class largemouth bass peaked in 1980, when 240 citation-sized largemouth bass of eight pounds or greater were reported to be caught in the bay.
Eventually the fishery fell into decline as pollution, habitat loss, and other factors took their toll.
In recent years, Back Bay has recovered considerably, with biologists citing improvements in water quality, the growth of submerged aquatic vegetation (SAV), and fish populations.
In 2012, the Virginia Department of Game and Inland Fisheries (DGIF) began a three-year F-1 hybrid largemouth bass stocking project in Back Bay. The program followed an experimental stocking of approximately 75,000 largemouth bass in 2009.
Fishing opportunities also exist in tributary creeks around Back Bay. In addition to largemouth bass, anglers catch black crappie, chain pickerel, channel catfish, yellow perch, and white perch, with some of the best fishing occurring in the spring and fall.
Back Bay is one of a few waterways in Virginia where cottonmouth snakes are found. In the marshes of Back Bay National Wildlife Refuge, invasive nutria have been a problem.