How is the fishing and the black bear hunting near Tok.

My father lives in the Wyoming, and I am an Alaska resident in the Navy living in Italy.

He wants me to come home and drive up to Alaska next summer.

What do you think?

D99, I've been bear hunting out of the Tok area for around 10years now and its very good. I always hunt in the spring, but my buddies who live there always get bears in the fall also.

Alot of decent black bears, ours average around the 6 foot mark.

Cant help you on the fishing info.

Thanks Joel,

If you have nice sized bears, I am sure you probably have some nice fishing.

Bears eat fish, has to be fish to eat, so by proxy????????? Let's hope!

D99,

I live 50 miles away from Tok since 1978. The best black bear hunting is in the spring by baiting. You can get some black bears in the fall, but that will be mainly in the berry patches up on the sides of the mountains. There are NO salmon up this far in the interior, so the bears are pretty much vegetarians so to speak. The fishing is mainly grayling and pike. Fly fishing for grayling is awesome. Let me know if I can be of further help.

Thanks Northway, I will look into it.

I will probably retire in Alaska in 7 years as I have been a resident of Alaska since 2000. Military!

My father wants to go to Alaska before he get's to old to do anything, so he is thinking this is our chance.

I am skeptical, but I need to look into some propertys, and renew my liscense.

Depends on your definition of "near". In Alaska, if you're on the road system, near is anything you can drive to

The Gulkana River has both red and king salmon, and it's about a 3 hour drive from Tok, and Valdez is about 5 hours, and offers all the saltwater species. Also the Copper River for Dipnetting, and that's about a 4 hour trek. By Alaska standards, that's nearby. People will drive 2-3 hours to fish in the evenings after work when the salmon are running.

I'm sure there are plenty of opportunities for lake fishing closer by, but I've been through that part of the state, never had the opportunity to explore it.

Paul is right. A 250 mile drive for us is nothing, so I guess it is how you define "close". Tok is a nice spot and allows you access to other places. Being on the "road" is the only way to live.