I have lived in Squamish for 25 years and have fished every river here up to as many as 150 days per year. Bears, what bears? I have seen so few of them over the years that I don't even think about them when I go out. There are both grizzlies and blacks in the valley but they are predominetly nocturnal. You have bigger worries from dick heads from the city than you do from bears. Bear spray and guns you do not need. I even walk the small salmon streams on the west side of the upper Squamish doing fish counts and I don't even worry about bears there. Bears are here but certainly not an issue.