I love striper fishin on Barren. Spring is easy pickins', but I have found any day you can be on the lake when there is a thin cloud layer is best. I catch a lot near the dam trolling rooster tails or rat-l-traps. Once I get a fish, I like to cast the area throughly because its always better to feel one of those bad boys grab your line than to just see your pole bend over. Plus, by casting, you can get a little deeper where the big ones are. I have been very ill-prepared on Barren before and I have had what I know as HUGE fish come off my pole. Defenetly a great fishery.
And the guys talking about the Barren tailwater are exactly correct. If I'm camping on the lake during the weekend, I'll generally use sunday to fish the tailwaters, or I'll simply camp at the tailwater's campground. Its simply that good of a fishery. But as with any tailwater enviroment, the fishing is give and take. I have been down there fishing a spoon so fast that it skirted on the top of the surface while watching a 3+ pounder chase it down. And I have been down there for entire weekends only to be skunked. So it is quite the periodical fishery.