Will only comment that I've spent time with Phil Shoemaker during the peak of the late-summer gathering of BIG brown bears in his part of Alaska--which according to the state biologists has the highest seasonal concentration of brown bears in the entire state. If you DON'T see a bear while fishing, it's unusual.
We had a few close encounters, the most up-close and personal when some nitwit flyfishing tourist woman actually chased a big female brown bear downstream, shouting at the bear to stop, so she could take a photo with her compact camera. Eventually the woman ran out of gas--about the time the bear disappeared into the thick willows and alders behind me and Phil. We stood very still, listening to the bear moving through the brush, and as the sounds neared us Phil drew both his revolver and can of bear spray, holding one in each hand.
The bear emerged from the brush maybe 15 feet away, and upon spotting us stopped and angled its head down and to our left. We stood very still, and within a lifetime or two the bear eventually turned back into the brush and headed away. Phil later told me that if the bear had lifted it's head directly at us, it would have charged--the reason he was 2-handed ready.
Would the bear have been stopped by bear spray, or the handgun? Dunno--and neither does Phil. But I would bet he has seen far more charging brown bears than anybody who has so far posted on this thread, and also has stopped more of them, not only with a 9mm mini-handgun but rifles from .30-06 up to .505 Gibbs. And bear spray.
His experience not only involves guiding bear hunters, but several months of guiding fishing clients on exactly the sort of bear-crowded, brush-bordered streams I just described If he has enough confidence to carry bear spray, along with a firearm, then I feel kinda okay with doing so too. Which is exactly what I do in Montana--where I've encountered far more grizzlies than most of the posters here.
