Amen Jack, especially on windy days. Sort of scary when the wind carries you off the ice shelf and back into open water! I had a spike on a socket that would fit over the opposite end of the duckbill pole also, but traded that system for two short pieces of pole with a spike on each so I could sit down on the bottom and sort of row myself across the ice with one in each hand. But even this system won't work when the ice is not quite thick enough to support the weight, but not quite thin enough to break through with the bow. Way too tiring for this 70-year old as I found while trying to retrieve my swan this past November. It died in the air and went through about 3/4" of ice about 150 yards out in the lake where it quickly froze in.