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Hanging fish in smoker

Posted by fin-nor <iframe src='https://members5.boardhost.com/surfcasting/info/user=fin-nor' width='330' height='300' border=0 style='border:none;'> on 27/4/2016, 12:27 am

I bought myself a gasmate smoker oven that runs off a 9kg gas bottle a couple of months ago to get away from the one I usually use that runs on meths. Yesterday I caught a nice 3.5Kg trevally that was too big to fit on racks in the smoker oven and it was the first fish to be smoked in there as all I have done in it is beef jerky some sausages and a whole chook. I made up some hanging hooks out of #8 wire I got from work out of the fire pile after the wire had been burnt and hung the trevally from that but it fell off one of the hooks so how do I prevent this from happening in the future, I put the hooks in through the pectoral fins from the inside of the fish and this is where it fell off one of the hooks halfway through being smoked, should I have left the fish salting overnight as I did stick it in the smoker as soon as I got home from the beach.

Re: Hanging fish in smoker

Posted by Charlie <iframe src='https://members5.boardhost.com/surfcasting/info/user=Charlie' width='330' height='300' border=0 style='border:none;'> on 27/4/2016, 9:26 pm, in reply to "Hanging fish in smoker "

Cut the head off your fish then cut it down the back bone to the gut cavity then remove the guts that will leave the fish joined at the belly, so you can put your hooks through the shoulders(that's the part where the head was cut off)if you follow what I mean. I think when you smoke the fish it has to be a cold smoke not a hot smoke as it is cooked to quickly and goes soft so therefore it falls of the hooks. I think that's why you have to lay them down.

Re: Hanging fish in smoker

fin-nor you hung it right but I think that it's the hot smoking that does it. May be you should try doing a cold smoke by turning your gas right down low as you can(barely going)just enough to make the saw dust smoke. I would look at using chips instead of saw dust so it would just smoulder away very slowly.

Re: Hanging fish in smoker

Posted by fin-nor <iframe src='https://members5.boardhost.com/surfcasting/info/user=fin-nor' width='330' height='300' border=0 style='border:none;'> on 27/4/2016, 10:57 pm, in reply to "Re: Hanging fish in smoker "

Thanks Charlie I do use proper woodchips in the smoker oven and mix them with the manuka sawdust. I have been using the manuka chips since I found a local source for them on trademe as they sell the chips when they are still green. When I run that smoker oven on low heat the chips won't even smoulder I was thinking about doing a modification to it as it does not have an intake vent like the kiwi sizzler smokers do to allow cool air to be drawn in it only has a top vent to allow heat and smoke to escape, so have been thinking about getting some aluminium to make up an adjustable intake vent but before I do that I might try running it with the door left ajar to see if that helps keep the temp down. a mate of mine who is no longer with us used to have an old wooden packing crate he used as a smoker and he used to hang fish from that and light a fire in the bottom of it inside an old roasting dish and they never used to fall off on him but they used to sit higher up where the heat was not so intense.

Re: Hanging fish in smoker

Posted by slayliner <iframe src='https://members5.boardhost.com/surfcasting/info/user=slayliner' width='330' height='300' border=0 style='border:none;'> on 28/4/2016, 12:23 pm, in reply to "Re: Hanging fish in smoker "

I've got a large walk in smoker with wire mesh racks and on one of them I have a piece of very stiff no.8 wire 'n' shaped about 10" high off the centre of the rack if you know what I mean .I have started leaning the fish either side of the wire,tail end up , just to drain off some of the liquid , just to make it a bit drier . I usually smoke my fish flat for about 3 hours then put them up leaning on the wire for the next 2 or 3 hours

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