New guy

Welcome to the forum and to the world of smoked foods.  What type of setup are you cooking on?  I started off on a UDS more than 25 years ago, then moved to a stick burner, WSM, and recently purchased a pellet smoker. 

Any smoker that works is good enough.  Ahh tuna is great.  I do 3-4 offshore trips a year and smoke whatever I don't sashimi.  Give the woodshed a call http://www.thewoodshedoc.com/.  They are in Anaheim and have always had good alder chunks whenever I needed them.  I usually get the larger 25lb bag that last an entire summer, but they should have 5lb bags also. 

Hey Rick, welcome. Look forward to your post's.

Smoked fish is one of my favorite things to smoke. I do a ton of yellowtail and halibut and an occasional trout smoke when I can get up to the Sierras.


Couldn't resist

Woodshed is actually in the city of Orange near Anaheim.  They have a great selection of flavored and smoking woods there.  Prices can seem a bit high but they are the only ones in the area providing wood.  They are friendly and will help you get what you need.  

werner61 said:

Anyone have any experience with pellet smoker or using pellets in a regular smoker? They have some really cool blends There is a place in Anaheim CA that sells pellet smokers.

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I just got a GMG Jim Bowie about 2 months ago and love it.  I'm not suppose to have charcoal burning smokers in my city so I had to put the WSM in the garage.  It's quit and easy to start up and smokers for 10 plus hours at a time before you need to refill the hopper.  The controller is just as good as my stoker and that was my only concern. 

Since pellets are being used as fuel you don't get as much of a smoker flavor unless you pre-cook big meats around 150-160 for an hour. This  allows it to generate more smoke for a smoker taste.  Then I turn it up to 220 for the duration of the cook.  I have also put in a batch of pellets in the amaze-n-tube and just let that do the smoking for me so I don't waste my apple and pecan pellets.  If you purchase oak pellets and just small batches of the fruit wood pellets you can save a lot of money.  I've done chicken at 375 and a pizza at 500 and they both came out great.  The only thing to remember is the higher the temp the faster you burn through pellets. 

If you're looking to get more info or pick one up give Eric at simi pellet grills a call.  http://simipelletgrills.com/  I called the place in Anaheim and they didn't know much about the grills at all other than the price.  Eric knows the GMG inside and out and the one time I had a question (on labor day during a long cook) he called me back in about 10 minutes.  Not to mentioned the great deal he gave me which included free shipping to my door.  He even walked me through the setup process and answered all my question before leaving...  Although I still have the WSM I probably won't be using it much unless I take it on the road for a camping trip.

If your talking about California Pellet Grills, they are great. I get my pellets from them. They have a pellet smoking tube there that you fill with pellets light one end and throw it in the back of you smoker on the grate. Works great, also they have a great selection of pellets to choose from. 100% flavor or blends. They are actually in Anaheim Hills about a mile or so east of the fishing lake on La Palma.

Rick - I use a Traeger Texas and have smoked some Yellowtail for my friend Linus. As for pellets, I go to South Coast Supply in Los Alamitos. I think there are others around. They are a Traeger dealer.