Built by Fishermen, for Fishermen
As the captain of a charter business and a successful tournament team, being at the front of the fleet means everything. It keeps us on a never-ending search for better ways to fish.
Early on, competing in wahoo tournaments, we knew the best baits won. But we knew something else: there were giants living where nobody had the bait capacity to reach them. We needed a way to get there with fresh, lively bonitas—and tons of them. Nothing on the market could carry enough to make the run, so we started building something ourselves.
We didn’t just accomplish that goal. We discovered something along the way that we believe will change the tuna tube industry forever.
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I’m Captain Richard Bloom, proud owner of Northeast Florida Fishing Charters and TunaTank. I’ve been engineer-minded since I was a kid, and I started my charter company right out of high school at just 19.
After eight years in the charter fishing industry, I set out to build the first TunaTank. I had two goals: carry more baits than anybody on the water and build a system that could come off the boat easily, so I could switch gears and target a different species from day to day.
At the time, the average tuna tube system held around three to five tubes, and that was considered large. The first system I built held 15 tubes, capable of carrying 15 baits on the go. I could finally make the run to those giant wahoo.
Then came the part I never planned for.
To keep the system self-contained, we had the water constantly recirculating, and that recirculation was quietly loading it with oxygen. Bait stayed alive and healthy far longer than anything I’d ever run. Thanks to the hyper-oxygenated water, we not only had more baits—we had better baits, too.
We had unexpectedly raised the bar for how a tuna tube could perform.
So, in February 2025, we filed a U.S. patent application and started sharing the invention. Word spread fast, and social media took off around the new product. Along the way, we realized not every boat needs to carry that much bait, so we built two more sizes—the Mini and the Mid—so there’s a TunaTank for everyone.
Today, my wife and I run TunaTank full-time and charter part-time. Every day, we build these systems with the same mindset we bring to fishing: How can we make them better?
To everyone who has put a TunaTank on their boat, thank you. You didn’t just buy a bait system—you believed in something we built from the ground up, and that means more to me than I can put into words.
Every unit that leaves the shop carries that same obsession: keeping your bait alive and making your day on the water better. This is only the beginning, and I can’t wait to keep building it with you.