Ice fishing sled with flotation for self-rescue

A plastic tub-type sled with improved flotation capability for buoyantly supporting some or all of the weight of an ice fisherman in water to help with self-rescue if the sled and the fisherman have broken through the ice, the sled comprising:

• a plastic tub body having raised walls along its sides and ends, a bottom, an open top, and upper edges along upper ends of the walls defining an upper periphery of the tub body;
• flotation bumpers on an exterior of the tub walls adjacent the upper edges, the bumpers arranged in a substantially continuous array around the upper periphery of the tub body and extending sufficiently outward therefrom to form a peripheral flotation shelf exteriorly of the tub body;
• the flotation bumpers further comprising bottom surfaces, the bottom surfaces spaced above the bottom of the tub body so as to be spaced above a surface on which the bottom of the tub body is sliding.