Just came back from a week on Barren night fishing the hybrids. Bait was up good most nights, but fish were very scattered. Didn't hear a lot of pops on any given night. Sonar showed lots of fish in the area, but topwater bite was almost non-existent. Boated five fish for the entire week. Probably a dozen blow-ups and misses by the fish. Also had one break off (angler error) and a couple pull offs. Talked to others who claimed great success throwing sub-surface. We did not try sub-surface...too stubborn I guess.
On a brighter note, the crappie bite was on fire. We would fish 3-4 hrs a day, boat 30-50 fish, and have around 10 keepers per day. I had never fished Barren for crappie so we went up the river and fished coves with docks. If the sun was out, fish held to the cover. If cloudy, they scattered in the flats. All fish in less than 8' of water. All keepers were 10"-12"