Northern pike in particular, but any fish in general.
How do you do it?
Leave the skin on the fillets, cut into pieces of your preference.
Brine in cold, cold, cold brine of 1 cup non-iodized salt, 2 cups brown sugar, per gallon of water. boil first to dissolve salt and sugar and then chill.
Brine for 90 minutes, any recipe that says to brine for longer should be tossed. Longer soaks compromise texture and add absolutely nothing. For pike that would be a killer.
Rinse quickly in cold water and place the pieces on the racks. Let a pellicle form. Depending on air movement, temp, relative humidity, and fish it may take several hours. Do not attempt to do it in the frig. Lack of air movement and high relative humidity will slow the process.
Put the fish in the smoker and start at low temp with good, pale blue smoke. I try to keep the temp under 100 or so for the first hour.
Let the heat rise slowly to 140 or so in the smoker and test for doneness after another couple hours. What you want is a good clean flake.
Add all your special sauces, flavors, and incantations to the smoked fish after. That way you can see what truly good fish is about and not be stuck with a big batch of something that does not really make the grade. Good clean smoked fish is hard to beat.
