My buddies were hot and heavy on those shellcrackers about three or four weeks ago, they were pulling limits out daily for about three days! It's been slow ever since for them.
I fished Barkley this past weekend trying to get in on the catfish spawn, only had one in the area where that would be happening - decided I was one week early....they should really be starting to turn on now! Places to look for are gravel bars near deeper water, or rip rap banks. You only need to fish with a bobber, or cork, or float, or whatever you want to call it, and only fish at about 3 - 4 ft deep. I typically use the smallest minnows I can get so I can doulble up on the bigger bluegill and the catfish. Usually my best time of day has been between the hours of 1 p.m. and 4 p.m. You may spend a while without a bite, but once you've caught one, you can usually start pounding them one right after another in that same area. If you do much "limb-linning" nows the time to start doing it!