Return to Wake Robin, Marnie Mamminga

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• From Fishing To Square Dancing, Author Recalls Northwoods Resorts

  For generations of Wisconsin families, the beauty, peace and simplicity of a vacation in the Northwoods was the ideal getaway. And in the first half of the 20^th century, Northwoods resorts were at the height of popularity and in the amenities they included.

  Back in the day, those resorts offered something for everyone: Delicious steak and fish dinners served in the lodge, the uncanny skills of the fishing guides, or a long dock for young people to gather on to play and flirt.

  Marnie Mamminga’s family has been enjoying their cabin on Big Spider Lake for five generations, and she is now sharing her memories in her new book, “Return to Wake Robin: One Cabin in the Heyday of Northwoods Resorts.”

  There were many characters who populated Moody’s Camp, which was the resort next to the family cabin. But few can compare to the fishing guides.

  As Mamminga writes in “Return to Wake Robin”:

  They were men of mystery.

  And they held the secrets of the lake. They knew the shallows, the reed beds, and the cold deep pockets of the depths.

  They knew the sky, too. The feathery wisps of cirrus clouds, the billows of cumulonimbus, the slights changes in wind, and the meaning of it all.

  And they knew their fish—crappie, walleye, bass, and musky—what lure to use and where to catch them. They were men of the water. They were the fishing guides.

  Guides that live in her memory and in the book include Tommy Seehuetter and Eddie Ostling. The latter was a larger than life character. As Mamminga describes him “Return to Wake Robin”: “With a gun in his belt and a knife in his boot, he was the quintessential fishing guide. He was a man’s man and a woman’s man, and to us kids he was as fascinating as a character straight out of a “Hardy Boys” or “Nancy Drew” adventure book.” A bachelor, fishing was his life and love. And he was known for the lures that he made, called Eddie’s baits.

  WPR host Larry Meiller said that he is fortunate to have a few of Eddie’s baits in his tackle box

  “And I’ve caught a pretty nice musky on one of my Eddie’s baits, as a matter of fact,” Meiller said.

  Seehuetter, however, grew up fishing with his parents, who spent time on the water each day. He was quoted in “Return to Wake Robin” as saying, “If I hadn’t been born in February, I’d have been born in a boat.” Always drawn to the water, he served in the Navy during World War II. After coming home and marrying, he found himself drawn again to the lakes, and worked as a fishing guide as often as possible.

  Each fishing guide at Moody’s had his own job to do, and Seehuetter’s role was to “get the minnows and suckers from the bait house, pick up a shore lunch that the cooks had assembled for him to fix over an open fire, and be sure the boat was bailed, gassed and readied with oars and anchor,” Mamminga wrote. “Throw in the ‘pee can’ (usually an old coffee tin), and he was set to go.”

  Being a fishing guide meant long, hard hours, but they loved their work. But sometimes, their activities at Moody’s Camp had nothing to do with fish or the water. Seehuetter was a talented polka dancer, and Ostling served as the caller for the Wednesday night square dances held at the lodge. He might have changed clothes, and left the gun and knife at home, but Mamminga said that he “transformed into a kind of sexy backwoods rock star. Ruggedly handsome with penetrating eyes, he called out the words of each square dance with the same flair that he executed his fishing cast.”

  Years later, long after the Moody’s Camp had been sold and divided into individual condos, Mamminga spotted Ostling once last time on the lake.

  “For a moment,” she wrote, “time stood still and the past floated between us in a recognized tribute to an era gone by.” he died not long after, she said.

  Editor’s Note: “Return to Wake Robin” will be featured on WPR’s “Chapter A Day” program starting on Monday, Aug. 5. Susan Sweeney will be the reader and an unabridged audiobook will be released as well.

  “Chapter A Day” is featuring Wisconsin authors through the beginning of November. To learn more about the program, and to listen to the audio segments, visit the Chapter A Day website.