Wow. Some thread. A lot of really stupid advice (what can you expect on a car thread when you ask a gun question??) and some surprisingly almost good advice. Well, here's some more 'advice' to consider:
Forget the handgun idea. Period.
Learn to fish with a heavy rifle (.338, .375 H&H, .458) strapped to your back or within quick access.
If you insist on carrying a handgun, go with the .500 S&W and buy two. One to wear out practicing, the other to carry. Then, when all the little bones in your hand have hairline fractures from the recoil, go home and read every book you can find on bear behavior (Herrero, Russell...). Hope you learn all you can about bear behavior and shooting; it will keep your mind at ease when fly fishing.
Incidentally, one of the realities of risk is that you are about 1000 times more likely to get killed driving to the airport than bushwacked by a bear.
I don't believe I'm likely to be this forums "bear expert", I quit guiding years ago, but 30 years of living in Alaska (hunting and fishing) with a bunch of stuffed critters on the walls (dall sheep, moose, caribou, wolverine and yes, Alice, even a bear!). I'd bet I'm at least as credible as some of these posts and probably not even funny.
