I'll be on the west side of the Cook Inlet in late August and early Sept. Fishing for silver salmon around Polly Creek,Silver Salmon creek,Kustatan river,Cresent lake. I've made the trip now 4 times fishing is superb, but I never see black bears only browns. I'd like to get a big blackie with my 45 Colt if the hides look decent enough.
Where must I go to find them.BB

Away from the brownies.In the Taylor MTNS,Nushigak Hills I
see alot of blackies in the berries.
Jeff

Ballbuster: That is a great stretch between Polly Creek and Kustatan and it is very accessable. And your are right about two things: lots of good silver salmon fishing in August (+/-) and in the right place lots of brown bears. As has been indicated, brown bears and black bears as a rule do not occupy the same space (the grizzlys kill and eat the black bears....hell, they kill and eat each other). So that area would probably not present the best opportunity to shoot a black bear. You would probably have to reverse your priorities: go on a black bear hunt where you can fish. There are bears up the Susitna River not far north from where you are talking about and there are lots of black bears on the east side of the Kenai Peninsula.

Who takes you over to Kustatan? Isn't there a nice logde on Crescent lake? Do you fly out of Soldotna? It all sound like fun to me.

Robert

What we've been doing is staying at a B&B between Soldotna and Sterling,on Longmere lake. We use either High Adventure air or Talon for float service and Natron air for wheel plane flights. Staggering the flights between days of drifting the Kenai and Kasilof.
This being an even number year the pinks are pesky but fun to catch.
When we started coming to AK to fish and dall hunt we paid big $$ to do so. After several trips we got the hang of it an now make the arrangements straight thru the flight services. BB

That sounds goods. I know that when you cut many of the middlemen out of the process of putting your trips together the price of goofing off can be reduced significantly. I have used Tim Pope's service (Natron Air) several times---he takes me over near Illiamna to shoot caribou in the spring. You'll need to focus on getting a black bear--that can usually be a relatively low-cost successful hunt with a little planning. I am sure you will have a great trip. Watch out for brown bears. Things are thawing out here now and I am chomping at the bit to shoot a black bear myself and to put some fish in the freezer.

B.B.,
All you have to do is get off of the river bottoms and get a little higher up. For the most part, the west side is full of black bears. One might glimps a black from the water's edge, but they will usually be in the alpine by then, or at the least moveing that direction.They can still be found on the coast but usually a couple of miles above or below brownie dominated salmon rivers. The further away from the rivers, the greater the density of blackies. Ask the fellows at Talon or High Adventure... they should be able to set you on the path.
best,
bhtr