Smoking Trout question...

[georgeamer]

Our Costco has some very nice looking trout and I want to smoke some.
Question:
Should I put the whole fish in brine then smoke or do I need to fillet the fish first.
Whe I lived in Canada I remember Kippered Haddock....can I do the same thing with trout?
George

[watchdog56]

I have done whole lake trout and filleted. Soaked them in a salt liquid smoke brine overnight then on to smoker. The filleted tasted a little saltier but not much. Just used enough canning salt -water mix to float a raw egg then put in 1/4 bottle of liquid smoke. Sometimes would add 1 cup of brown sugar. Fish turned out great.

[Habanero Smoker]

Either way, I prefer fillets. With whole fish I take an extra step and use a piece of bamboo skewer to open the cavity while smoking.

Here is a great trout brine:

Smoked Trout

[muzzletim]

I also like to filet. If the trout are not very big it only takes a short time to brine, usually between 45 minutes and 1 hour with my brine mix. Otherwise they really get salty and you have to double your consumption of beer.

[manxman]

Either way, I prefer fillets.

Me too, I do fillets every time.  :)