By A. Finn Moss | Investigative watersports reporter

How good was the 2015 ice-fishing season in and around Bass Lake?

According to a local expert, it was the third-best quarterly period in postmodern history.

“This was, without question, one of the best winters for anglers in this area, based mainly on ice-time/catch ratio,” said Darwin Wrattlebate, new historian and chief of fisheries science at Bass Lake Center for Fish and Sundry Wildlife. “It ranked pretty well even compared to the April-June segment, and that’s saying something.”

Wrattlebait succeeded Gil Chantee as resident fishing-assessment expert late last week, after Chantee resigned to pursue a degree in aquatic literature.

Within less than 45 hours, Wrattlebate compiled an extensive set of statistical data using advanced freshwater analytics, as well as “the hook-in-eye test” to assess a 10-year ranking of seasonal fishing experience on Bass Lake, arranged by season and adjusted for complex weather-pattern outliers.

Wrattlebate’s “top 5” from Spring 2006-Winter 2015:
1. Summer 2007
2. Spring 2009
3. Winter 2015
4. Summer 2012
5. (tie) Spring 2010/Fall 2013/Summer 2008/Summer 2011/Winter 2008/Spring 2014