A tale of 2 poles
Let us start by making clear that the 2 poles do not refer to North and South. One would be myself, with an ancestry straight out of Poland, and one of my best fishing partners whos last name just happens to end in "ski"
We were just rapping up a long day sitting in a shanty ice fishing in Northern Michigan. We had plenty of live minnows left over for bait so we decided to submerge them under the ice in a bucket with a lid and many holes so that it will sink but not let the bait out, standard practice in these parts. As we tied our rope to the bucket handle and prepared to submerge it we realized there was no weight to sink the bucket, you can never seem to get all the air out. Well being the two college educated "POLES" that we are we figured the solid steel ice spud would provide all the weight needed to sink our bait bucket until the next time we came out, so down it went.
Well as luck would have it we were not able to get back out for over a week, which is usually no big deal. Unless the spud you use to reopen the ice fishing hole in your shanty is tied to your bait bucket 12 feet below the ice.
It is not about the equipment you have to use,
It is about how you use the equipment you have. :D