1. No
2. Yes/No - depends on the fillet
3. always fillet

Simple Brine
1 qt water
1/2 cup salt., non-iodized
1/2 cup brown sugar
10 oz. teriyaki sauce (optional)

Always;
overnite in the refer - rinse, dry, rack. wait for pellicle to develop, into a hot box
3 pans of chips, 8-12 hours

The below brine recipe has always worked good for me. A couple of weeks ago I smoked some humps, I didn't have any white wine so I used a red, an Australian Shiraz. Smoked it with a combo of apple, mesquite, and Jack Daniels oak chips. For humpies it turned out really good. Had a friend stop by and I tried to give him some but he wanted no part in those humpies. His taste buds are spoiled on Alaskan Reds, but he tooks some anyways just to be nice. He called me that night and said it was some of the best smoked salmon he and his wife had ever tasted. laugh

"Little Chief" Mod Deluxe
1/3 cup brown sugar
1/4 cup salt, non-idonized
2 cups Hawaiian Soy Sauce
1 cup water
1/2 tsp onion powder
1/2 tsp garlic powder
1/2 tsp pepper
1/2 tabasco
1 cup dry white wine

same as above;
overnite in the refer - rinse, dry, rack. wait for pellicle to develop, into a hot box
3 pans of chips, 8-12 hours