I too am fairly new at smoking fish and have received all my information on this subject from this board and the Luhr Jensen web site. Also, I have gotten both of my smokers at G-sales, (or my wife has).

My first Lil' Chief had an older style element, and I found that it took fish for ever to be "done". (compared to my friends newer version with the newer element).

The smoker I am using now is an "Outters" brand, purchased at Eddie Bauer way back when EB was an actual outfitters store. It runs much hotter than the old lil chief and smokes fairly fast (6-8 hrs for fillets from a average size coho), especially now in the summer months. I think it has a ceramic piece as part of it's element.

I may try smoking with the box on during the winter, but am a little concerned about fire hazards. Anyone else have this concern, or should I forget about it?
I like the charcol idea though.

Thanks