Ice Fishing on Lake Minnetonka

It was the winter of 1970-1971. My husband-to-be had been drafted into the service and was stationed at Fort Carson, Colorado. He was home for a short leave at the holidays. I told him how our family had started ice fishing on Lake Minnetonka. He and I decided to go out to the lake and I could show him how to ice fish. We stopped for minnows at Roya's Bait Shop in Excelsior. We got to the house and got our ice fishing supplies and pulled them on a plastic sled to the fish house. I took the ice auger and opened two holes. The ice wasn't frozen very thick. My husband-to-be said that he would start a fire in the stove. I put two lines down and immediately started pulling up crappies. I would get one off the hook and then there would be another on the other line. I got 10-12 crappies and my husband-to-be couldn't get the stove started. We decided to quit. this was the last of our ice fishing for us.