TJ:
I prefer to use a spud bar in the following manner when on sketchy, honeycombed ice.
Take a flat bottom aluminum Jon boat. Push it out on the ice. Make sure you have a set of oars and a life jacket. (plus check to make sure the plug is installed the boat). Place ice fishing gear in the boat, along with the spud bar. Get in the boat, stand at the stern, and use the spud bar against the ice to shove the boat out to where you want to fish. When done fishing, use the spud bar to push the boat at leat one boat length forward, then step to the bow of the boat. Use the spud bar to slide the bow around so it's pointed where you came from. Step to the back of the boat and repeat the "shove" process.
I've used that process in a 14' aluminum Jon boat to go out on ice that was too honeycombed to walk on. After a period of time, there was water all around the boat, but I was still catching fish from the holes that I chopped in the ice. No worries about going thru the ice that way.
I never used that procedure during early ice season - hunting season or trapping was more important than ice fishing.
