As a typical straight braided river in the middle reach of the Yangtze River, Yanglinyan waterway is well in channel condition for years. But the development of channel condition is worsening after the impoundment of the Three Gorges reservoir when water and sediment conditions were changed. This paper studies the water and sediment characteristics, riverbed evolution law, train of thought on the regulation, and regulation measures by means of physical model test and theory analysis, which may serve as reference for similar river regulations. The result shows that the location and shape changing of Nanyangzhou head directly impacts the riverbed evolution and channel condition, so the flexible mattress beach protection belts shall be adopted to protect the head.