? Smoking trout?

[dfish28]

To leave skin on or not? Fillet or on bone? Usually smoke fillets of larger fish... What say you??

[Walleyed]

I usually smoke them headed, gutted and split. Leave skin on. With the smaller ones, you'll lose too much meat fileting them out, unless your a surgeon in real life.

[hammer4reel]

I leave them whole. just scaled and gutted

[hookset]

My dad likes to filet them when smoking but I like whole just gutted! I think fileting them dries them out a little to much!

[dfish28]

Thanks gentlemen... Mixing it up between filleted, boned, and boneless~so-so... It's looking good so far, think I'll keep on with the fillets after this one...

[Anthony]

Originally Posted by dfish28

To leave skin on or not? Fillet or on bone? Usually smoke fillets of larger fish... What say you??

My neighbor is doing a bunch tonight....he leaves skin on and uses toothpicks to open the trout cavity...

[dfish28]

Thanks. I did the toothpick thing, but also did the fillet thing... Way more happy with the exposed meat on the smoke... But that could just be me, but it was Damn! Good!

[Anthony]

Originally Posted by dfish28

Thanks. I did the toothpick thing, but also did the fillet thing... Way more happy with the exposed meat on the smoke... But that could just be me, but it was Damn! Good!

years ago when I was big on lake Ontario fishing...I used to do steelhead, salmon and brown trout on my electric smoker...omg it was so good.

getting the moisture out before smoking by drying on a rack with a fan was key.

http://www.theoutdoorline.com/blog/2...on-simplified/

[the1jonc]

+1 on the drying part that Anthony just mentioned.

It makes all the difference. I blow with a fan for a few hours or leave uncovered in the fridge to let the air circulate.

[dfish28]

Yessir, it's all about the Pellicle! I definitely like the fillets better than whole... You get that almost jerky like texture on the outer thinner flesh, which makes an awesome fish dip imo.