Clay Duda

Posted on July 13, 2023August 3, 2023 by Clay Duda Posted in Fish Stories, Mostly Alaska

Rena’s Photos from Fishing on the Diamond Cape — Fall 2022

Biting the 'but aboard the Diamond Cape. Photo by <a href= — ^{Capt. Clay on a rainy day. Fishing on the Diamond Cape, September 2022. Photo by Rena Spears www.countrysinnovationnation.com.}

I won’t lie, when you fish every day, well, the days start to blur together after a while. It’s not that I forget them, it’s just that the waves start to overlap in my memory bank. We catch a lot of fish, and we take a lot of people fishing, and I’m way better remembering faces than I am with names.

When Rena Spears sent me an email this spring saying she had photos from a charter fishing trip she took with us in 2022, I was pretty excited. My memories of that late-season trip on Sept. 15, 2022 were pretty hazy, but once she sent along the photos everything came crisp into view.

Posted on June 26, 2023August 2, 2023 by Clay Duda Posted in Fish Stories, Mostly Alaska

That Time Lori Caught a 70-Pound Halibut in the Chugach Islands and I Made a Video About It

Lori was a super cool client I had on the Diamond Cape in the summer of 2021. I rarely have a chance to do videos like this, but I’m always happy when things come together.

Posted on June 8, 2023June 8, 2023 by Clay Duda Posted in Book Reviews, Just For Fun

A Brief Review of the Book ‘Endurance’ by Alfred Lansing

^{Frozen in ice and frozen in time, an iconic voyage aboard the Endurance to the Antarctic Beyond.}

What’s the point of reading a book when you already know the ending? Rarely is a story so compelling and unbelievable that it couldn’t past muster as a work of fiction. No one would believe the odysseys captured in the pages of Endurance if they weren’t true. The fact that 28 men sailed into the heart of the Antarctic ice pack, had their ship crushed in heavy flows, fought off the elements and madness for more than a year existing on the ice, and all escaped and lived to tell about it is, quite frankly, beyond belief.

Posted on May 29, 2023May 29, 2023 by Clay Duda Posted in Fish Stories, Mostly Alaska, Mostly FIlm

Goofing Off and Winning the 2023 Captain’s Invitational Halibut Tournament in Homer, Alaska

One of my very first fishing trips when I arrived in Alaska more than 6 years ago was with my friend Jordan, who invited me to join a bunch of guys competing in the annual Captain’s Invitational Halibut Tournament in Homer, Alaska. We did not win the tournament that year, but I started to find my sea legs and understand a little bit about what drew such an eclectic group of guys together with a love for the ocean.

Posted on May 11, 2023May 11, 2023 by Clay Duda Posted in Just For Fun, One Shot

One Shot: The First Halibut of 2023

My client Elizsabeth caught this 64-pound halibut in Lower Cook Inlet on May 6, 2023. Photo by Clay Duda. — ^{My client Elizsabeth caught this 64-pound halibut in Lower Cook Inlet on May 6, 2023.}

The first halibut on my charter boat the Diamond Cape this summer was a 64-pounder caught by Liz from West Virginia on May 6, 2023. It put up a good fight. She chased it around the back of the boat for a good 20 minutes before it came to the surface, saw the boat, and took a dive back to the bottom. After another long fight, the beast finally hit the back deck on a cool spring morning in Lower Cook Inlet.

Early season halibut fishing is off to a good start this year in Homer, Alaska. If you’re looking to book a trip, there are still seats available in May with Homer Ocean Charters.