smoking fish

When I smoke fish. Brine brine brine. If you dont. Dries out very quickly and you normally end up with jerky.
Living in Michigan I catch a ton of salmon and steelhead. After brining the fishing you need to remove from brine. Pat dry. And let it air dry on rack for a couple of hours. Brine preserves the fish. So don't worry about spoilage. The fish's surface will develop a sticky touch to it. Then you are ready to smoke. You wanna smoke at a very low temp. Like 175 to 200.

I prefer to fillet them. Some people cut the fish in large chunks. Up to you really.


A bunch of steelhead I got last year.

Me with a ton of Kings I caught

My good buddy with a nice King

Smoking fish propely is hard at first. Because it's so easy to overcook! Your looking for an internal temp of about 140.
Here is my basic brine for fish. 2/3 kosher salt. Same amount sugar. Lots of black pepper. And gallon of cold water. Brine between 8 to 20 hrs depending on thickness of fish

The lower the smoking temp the better! It kind of works out during salmon steelheed season in Michigan. Which is late Sept and November. Weather is cold so harder to overheat the smoker.
Only takes like 2 hrs. But. It all depends on the fish. The brine gives you a little bit of a safety net. Because it keeps fish moist during smoking. But a good meat thermometer probe. Really helps.