After dropping my boat in the river the other day, the display on my sonar unit registered a water temperature of 35 degrees.

Brrr!

But gamefish and panfish like bass, walleyes, crappies and yellow perch can still be caught in frigid water — especially when they are set up in schools along major-lake structures and deep-river hole edges — but often it’s necessary to hang something right in their face. And often the most productive “something” is a jigging spoon.

I recall a series of trips a few years ago to Pymatuning Lake, ones during which my friend, Dave Lehman, joined me.

A period of relatively mild, windless weather covered three consecutive early winter weekends, during which we caught dozens of oversized yellow perch along the edge of a large mid-lake hump that topped off in around four feet of water.

By working the deep edge of the hump, in the 15- to 20-foot range, Lehman and I boated good numbers of 10- to 13-inch yellow perch, all on Hopkins jigging spoons.

Here are a few of the finer points of fishing a jigging spoon during the late fall and early winter.

Keeping in mind that the objective is to jig the spoon vertically right in front of relatively inactive fish, this is a situation where it really pays to first locate fish on your sonar unit. It’s not a “cover the water” tactic.

While it can pay to experiment with various jigging cadences and strokes, most days the most productive approach will be to impart relatively mild, short strokes that lift the spoon a foot or less off of the bottom. Then allow the spoon to hang for several seconds before the next jig stroke. Many hits will come on the “hang,” just like pausing a suspending jerkbait.

It’s important to keep the spoon close to the bottom. Every half dozen or so strokes, allow the spoon to sink the whole way to the bottom (you’ll know you’re on the bottom by the sudden slack in the line). Doing this not only confirms that you’re targeting the prime zone — within a foot or so of the bottom — but can also trigger strikes, like deflecting a spinnerbait off of a submerged stump.

Some days it pays to tip one tine of the treble hook with a small minnow, like a tiny fathead. The added scent and flavor can be just what it takes to turn a slow day around.

Vertically jigging a spoon can be a line-twister. Many headaches can be avoided by utilizing a good quality snap and swivel. Create a short leader by tying in a foot or so of monofilament between the two items.

Productive jigging spoons include the Hopkins spoon and Cotton Cordell jigging spoon. I prefer ones in a hammered, silver finish, ranging in size from ¼- to ½-ounce.

Jeff Knapp is an outdoors columnist for the Butler Eagle