Smoking (whole) sockeye

[The Quadfather]

I know that there have been various smoked salmon recipes before on here.. but I had a patient at work give me a whole (not fillets) Sockeye salmon, maybe 5-6 lbs. I was just wondering is there any advice on smoking it whole? I know some will say filet it, but I have never filet anything, and I don't want to start with this fish.
So I guess just smoke it a little longer due to thickness?

[big fish lite line]

If you don't want to fillet it then I would just suggest making sure it is gutted and beheaded. I recently had some smoked lake trout and instead of filleting the fish he just gutted it and chopped it into 3-5in pieces and left the tail longer because the smaller tail piece cooks faster. oh yeah by looking at the girth the fish it was about that size.

[Toni]

You might have to smoke it a long time. What size smoker do you have? I think I would split in half, length wise, down the spine. The big question is" How are you brining it?" That big of fish whole can fit in your refrigerator? Another part is the tail piece will cook faster than the rest.

[papamike]

iIf you cut it into steaks it would brine and smoke faster as well as pick up a more even flavor.

[northfork]

papamike has it nailed. If you aren't going to fillet it then steak it so the brine can penetrate the fish otherwise it will just be cooked salmon.

[The Quadfather]

Thaks guys, that's enough info. Maybe this weekend I'll get into it.

[TroutCowboy]

ZigZag rolling papers are my favorite. Roll it really tight. And you're probably going to need a propane torch to light that thing. Send me one and I'll smoke it at my next poker night and drive my competition crazy. Or unconscious.

Sorry, "Cheech & Chong" flashback. ;-)

[Dave]

Papamike suggests what I would do with a whole salmon if I didn't want to attempt filleting it.