what ever you go with, buy the one with the biggest eye they get froze shut quite often. sometimes when purchasing a rod, i look for the eye size one the last one. i see no reason on an ice rod to have a needle hole on the end. Now since using a fish finder, i seldom use s b any more, as i know about when the hit should happen, but must say last night, it was a very light bite, and fairly windy so one could have helped