About

Clay Duda is a freelance journalist, writer, and photographer based in Homer, Alaska.

Hi, my name is Clay. I worked as a journalist full-time for seven years before I quit my day job to travel the world and do my own thing.

After packing around for a while, my wife and I found our way north to Homer, Alaska, where I run a small fishing boat during the summer.

I still do a good bit of writing and photography stuff, depending on the season, and I’m always open to freelance work and collaborations on projects I believe in. Drop me a line at: clayduda (at) gmail (dot) com

Halibut Fishing in Alaska:

Fishing the waters of Kachemak Bay and lower Cook Inlet can be a lot of fun. Fish grow big in Alaska. I grew up reeling in bass, bluegill, and catfish back in Georgia, but I never thought I’d being doing it for a living (it turns out that all you have to do to become a “professional” fisherman is find someone willing to pay you to do it!).

I started fishing out of Homer back in 2017 after a 6-month sojourn in South America, and I’ve been hooked ever since. It still blows my mind that you can paddle a small tub out into the middle of this vast ocean, drop a string in the water, and pull up something for dinner.

Homer, Alaska is known as the “halibut fishing capital of the world” for good reason. The ocean’s bounty is plentiful here. Every day on the water is an adventure, surrounded by snow-capped peaks, wildlife like sea otters and black bears roaming the beach, and of course the surprises of the ocean’s deep.

Writings and Other Works:

My journalism and photography work has appeared in publications across the U.S. and earned several awards over the years. I specialize in off-beat feature writing, enterprise and investigative reporting, and editorial photography.

I once discovered billions of gallons of water missing during a historic drought year, froze my ass off living homeless for 24 hours in January, scored dope with a heroin addict on the lam (who is now clean and doing good, BTW), and chronicled the many challenges for communities rebuilding after wildfire.

I strive to tell stories in a way no one else can.

In the past I held several different staff positions. I worked as lead reporter for a mid-sized weekly, a beat reporter for a daily rag, an online editor at one of the country’s largest alt-weeklies, and a photojournalist for two nonprofit newsrooms. I used to cook barbecue and build houses too, but those are completely different stories. For more details about my journalism work check out my resume page or LinkedIn profile.