Clean Your Fish Here
This is our vintage Fish Cleaning House, located on the Sandy Point shore of Squaw Lake and just next to the input creek known to us as "Cozzens' Creek." We can usually get a read on how the fish are biting each week by the amount of fish guts left behind in the disposal bins.
This brings up two issues. Recently we had more guts stored in this building than anyone of us (Mike, Michele or Stu, the guy who actually cleans it each week), has experienced in our tenure. Normally that would be good news. But the problem is, the guts came from fish NOT caught in this lake.
People! It's just bad form to bring fish caught in someone else's lake and leave the guts for us to clean up.
Secondly: We have a sign hung in each cabin asking guests to only use the fish cleaning house for cleaning fish. In other words, don't clean fish in our cabins. I don't think anyone wants to hear about the amount of fish scales I had to clean out of the drains, sink bins, cabinets and drawers this week, but trust me, it wasn't pretty. It led me to make additional fluorescent signs for each cabin reading "DO NOT CLEAN FISH IN CABIN." I didn't even type the word "please." The only scales I want to deal with are scales on the piano.
Meanwhile, here it sits on the shorline, waiting for you to enter with your catch. This cute, A-roofed cleaning house is screen-in, and has everything you need to filet your fresh fish--as long as you BYOK (Bring Your Own Knife.) And remember, if it ain't caught near, don't clean here.
"DRIVE SLOW"
The Flag Hole
You can't miss it. This giant flag hangs on the back of our Recreation House, which also is home to the Wisconsin Disc Golf Hall of Fame. That's disc golf basket #22 in front of it, hence the name of this hole, "The Flag Hole."
This isn't the orignal flag we had hung there. The original had 48 stars and is something we inherited from Mike's dad. Unfortunatley, the material from which it was made couldn't tolerate the severe Northwoods elements and it tattered to the point of being Unamerican. We replaced it with this 50-star version, measuring 9', 7" x 19', 1."
Big Jim
Meet Big Jim. He's a chainsaw-carved bear standing 4-foot, 7-inches and weighing, uh, a lot! Jim started working for us three years ago, and stands on the porch of our shop, greeting all who enter with a gnarly smile. We met him at the annual Spring Arts and Crafts fair at Torpy Park in Minocqua and couldn't take our eyes off him all weekend.
His creator is a woman named Dee, who lives just west of us near Squaw Creek. We've known Dee since we moved to the Northwoods, having first met her when she ran a coffee stand outside of Trig's Supermarket. This was long before Starbucks (which we still don't have in the Northwoods) became a household name. What I loved about Dee, aside from her always warm smile and tremendous laugh, was that she had a "word of the day" calendar on her coffee cart. Word freak that I've always been, I couldn't wait to accept the challenge of testing my vocabulary. I specifcally remember the word "subterfuge," and it brought me back to a boss I had in Berkeley that accused her employees of engaging in "subterfuge and gossip."
We were in town a lot the year Willow was born, going back and forth to Marshfield Clinic. Dee monitored my entire pregancy and now always looks forward to checking on Willow's growth progress when we see her each year at Torpy Park.
By the way, chainsaw carving is a craft that just came to Dee one day when she picked up a saw and starting creating amazing sculptures: Bears, Turtles, Frogs, Eagles, Acorns . . . truly definitive of Northwoods' icon material. Why does she do it? "Winters up here are really long."
A Musky Named George
GEORGE: 36 pounds, 51 inches
Call it a Fishtale, but this musky, affectionately known as "George," has a story. He was caught in the root beer waters of Squaw lake on October 8, 1970 by Robert A. Wilson. Mr. Wilson and his family had been coming to Squaw Lake and Sandy Point Resort since the 1930s. When we took over in 1993, we were just one more new owner in a long string of caretakers of this special place. We had the privilege of his company during our first couple years here but he passed away. The next summer, his widow and his son, Mike, asked if they could "bring George home." They bestowed George upon us and we were delighted to display him, along with Mr. Wilson's photo and George's stats. He has found a home in our pro shop, just above the front door. Each spring when the Wilson family, Robert's son, grandchildren and great-grandchildren, come to continue the fishing tradition (they're looking for George's wife, "Georgette"), they salute old George and fondly remember the man who captured him.
Sadly, Robert's son, Mike, a dear friend to Sandy Point, passed away over the winter. He will be sorely missed. But now each time we look at George, we'll also be thinking of Mike.