Michael T Tracy

Summertime in Wisconsin Michael T Tracy

There is a small city located on Sturgeon Bay which flows directly into Lake Michigan through a large shipping canal. The city of Sturgeon Bay offers one of the few places in the world that one can go from deep fresh water fishing to inland lake fishing without ever leaving your boat. On the shores of the bay sat a small private resort named "De Jonge's on the Bay," in Sturgeon Bay, Wisconsin. For three young children of Barney and Donna Tracy this resort in Door County, Wisconsin would offer countless summer joys of fishing, swimming, boating and playing during the 1970s and 1980s. Approximately 182 miles directly northwest of Sturgeon Bay, nestled in the midst of the Great Northwoods of Wisconsin along the banks of Range Line Lake, stands another summer resort, Camp Luther, located outside the small town of Three Lakes. Here summer's grasp would take hold on all the Tracy family and fishing lore of catching "that big one" would be in the minds of all who dared venture out into the "pockets," a strip of water joining Range Line Lake and Planting Ground Lake. In a letter to his sons, on Monday, 4 July 1983, Barney Tracy wrote: "Just wanted to tell you both that some guy caught a 41 inch muskie on Range Line Lake. Another guy got a 6 pound bass on this lake also. I'll keep trying... See you soon, Dad." This then is the story of a childhood past and the memories of two noteworthy resorts during the summertime in Wisconsin.