I have used hickory wood for years to smoke fish. I like it fine, but wondering if anyone uses a different flavor?

I've always just used zig-zags.

HAH! Sorry...lame joke but I couldn't resist.

-Nick

I like using alder, but experimenting with different combinations of hickory, alder, apple and cherry can work well.

Apple is nice.

Do we bake it? No no nooo no.
Do we smoke it? Ya ya yaaa ya.
~ Nat E. Dred, the Rasta Gourmet

Hey! I'm out here in The Pacific Northwest....Oregon you know.
Alder is the way to go. You can put in a few pieces of vine maple too. Hickory is good for pork but over-powers the flavor of fish. I use a "Little Chief" Smoker....works Great! Takes 6 to 8 Hours for big chunks of Salmon, less for smaller fish......aboiut 3 pans of chips.....you don't need to have smoke the whole time....space it out.

Up here in the north, punky aspen works well.

I have found that apple wood gives fish an excellent flavor. Try to get chunks (3-4 inches) and soak them overnight. Using the apple chips seem to burn up and lack the flavor.

I always forget what end of the fish to light when I smoke a fish, :0 I have used Apple wood in my smoker.

I was finishing off the last of some brookies I smoked a couple weeks ago tonight. I used hickory on these. Normaly I use alder or applewood. I wood have to say the hickery tasted very good,the kitty thought so too.

My grandpa used apple or plum wood. Maybe birch, but I would try that first.

Another thing we did was always splitting the back bone instead of the belly. It seemed to cook more even.

Another tip- when smoking oily fish like trout and salmon- poke some holes in the skin so oil can drain off.

to make REALY good smoked fish make the brine a brown sugar brine, then coverr the whole fillet with about 1/4 inch of brown sugar when in smoker.

I do the same for baking salmon and trout. it turns into a candy coating!