Newbury Riffle partially removed

[Brian Jones]

Back in the winter I posted on a different Big River thread about a rumor circulating around town that the Newbury riffle placed across the river a little downstream of Desloge had been removed.  I can now confirm that the rumor was true.  For whatever reason, the powers that be took out the middle section as seen in the pics below.  I accidentally ran it this morning and somehow made it to the bottom relatively unscathed.  If you float through this section, be cautious and have a plan.  This is a good place to lose some gear or risk injury if you're not on your toes.  My decision wasn't the best, but fortunately it all worked out.  On a positive note they've done some stream stabilization work with some big rip rap rock down below the riffle as seen in one of the pics that, IMO, is going to make the fishing below the riffle even better.   

[Phil Lilley]

That's a cool looking river.  Is it inundated with people in the summer?

[Al Agnew]

12 hours ago, Phil Lilley said:

That's a cool looking river.  Is it inundated with people in the summer?

No outfitters serve that stretch, partly because of the Newberry Riffle; Steve at Cherokee Landing has been trying for a couple years to get them to fix it so that it doesn't pose a danger, because he won't put in floaters above it for that reason.  

There is one guy that does shuttles on upper Big, and Cherokee Landing is a small outfitter and campground.  But for the most part it's do-it-yourself floating and thus not very crowded at all.  There are a couple other reasons for that...it gets too low to easily float over much of the summer, access is limited, and there is more human abuse of that river than any other in the Ozarks.  It's also basically easy and slow to float; the gradient isn't all that great.  All those things combine to make it less crowded than most.  Of course, it's my home river; I grew up within a mile of where the Newberry Riffle is now, and spent a good part of my childhood and teenage years on that stretch of river, so I still love it.