I spread ice cream salt (rock salt) on top of fillets until it is spaced1/4 to 1/2 inch between rocks. Then liberally cover with brown sugar & soak over night. Rinse, pat dry with paper towel & allow 1/2 hr to glaze over prior to smoking. This is all there is to it! If you want you can add garlic powder, onion, curry, wasabi or whatever you fancy. I just layer them on top of one another in a plastic bowl or rectangular container. They lay a little nicer in the rectangle. extremely simple & cheap. Good luck!

My recipe is simple.....but very good. 2 quarts of water, 2/3 cup of salt (does not seem to matter whether rock salt or table salt), 1/2 cup brown sugar, 1/2 cup white sugar, and 1/3 spice can of poultry seasoning. I mix it with an electric mixer.
The spice likes to float on the top...so I stir the fish occasional during the brining. For humpies I brine about 5-6 hours and then place on the smoker racks for at least 1 hour to air dry *very important"! Smoking time varies depending on your smoker. My Little Chief with humpies takes about 6-8 hours.

Hey ARK, looks like I'm not giving enough air dry time. I 'm learning all the time. Thanks

I took all your advice. Brined for 6 hours. Rinsed and air dried for 2-3 hours. Smoked for about 6 hours. Here is the thing, all the pieces have a very fishy smell and taste. It's not overwhelming but it is there. The smoked fish tastes great,even my youngest son likes it! That alone should be a positive indicator! LOL. Is the strong fish smell normal for pinks?

Hey gordonbair, I'm out of my league here. I'm on the Eastern side of the state.LOL Some day I'll make the trek to the wet side for some Humpy action. Hopefully ARK can answer on the fishy smell & taste. Glad your youngest likes it!

gordon, did you remove the scales?

I cant figure out why it would taste or smell like fish lol. Good report though glad you did well :)

Their salmon, hence the smell, maybe they oversmoked a bit. I'm glad you like the results though.

A good thing to do is bleed them right after you catch them for around 9 minutes the clean them and put them on ice if you can. Bleeding them will help that fishy taste leave the meat, to bleed a fish just cut the gills on both sides, some people hang them upside down other let river water run through them either way works and help a lot with the fishy smell and taste. Great job on the catch