Temps were in the low to mid 60s, creeks are stained to some degree. Water is dropping at a rate of 5 inches per day to get it back to summer pool. now while the Corp pretty much do not care about fish in the lake one way or the other. their job is to keep folks dry and the water safe. I heve volunteered at Barren a couple of years back. Most of the rangers had no idea about fishing or patterns and some of the new guys got lost and could not make it back o the right boat dock to tie off for the night. as far as the water being high in the trees have always lead toward good years. more cover gives a new year class a better area to protect themselvs from all of the other fish. The truth is there are good fish in Barren and this is not the lake it was 15 years ago where the only way of getting skunked was to fish with out a hook. There are a couple of things that you can do, call , write, and E-Mail your Reps and make your feelings, and worries about the lake, all corp lakes for that matter. We can set here and preach to the choir or we can raise a few eye brows in DC. let them know how you feel and find others from the area and let them we want their cooperation.