About the Irish Mist

Clay Duda has been fishing the waters of Kachemak Bay and Cook Inlet for nearly a decade now, but if we’re being honest, when he first arrived in Homer he didn’t even know what a halibut was. (gasp) After traveling abroad for a stint, Clay and his wife found their way north to Alaska with allures of fishy freedom and the wilds of life on the last frontier. It didn’t take them long to drop anchor and call “Home Sweet Homer” home for good.

Clay is owner and operator of the Irish Mist, a spacious 8-person charter boat and the newest addition to the North Country rosters. Fun fact: after deckhanding on other boats for a few years, Clay’s first captain job was running the Storm Petrel for North Country Charters. He went on to captain other charter vessels out of Homer before returning to the North Country line up in 2025 after purchasing the 34-foot Irish Mist.

In another life Clay worked as a journalist and photographer for 7 years before moving to Alaska. His words and photos have appeared in publications nationally and earned several awards. In more recent years he’s spent a lot of his free time in the darkroom developing film and making prints the old-fashioned way. His analog photographs have been featured recently at Homer Council on the Arts, South Peninsula Hospital Gallery, and Grace Ridge Brewery.

Halibut Fishing Regulations for 2025

• Your limit is 2 halibut per person per day, no annual limit, one of any size and the other 27” or smaller.
• Lower Cook Inlet and Kachemak Bay produces halibut of all sizes.
• Extremely rare that anyone fishing does not get their limit of 2 halibut.
• Typical fish run in the 15-40 lb range but we all have the photos to prove what can really be ready to bite your hook at any given time…so be prepared!

Salmon

• 1 king salmon per day
• Season limit of 5 Kings
• 6 other salmon per day, 3 of which may be a silver salmon, no season limit.

Rockfish

• 3 per day, 1 of which may be a non-pelagic species (yelloweye, tiger, etc.).