I soaked the fish in a brine consisting of a cup and half of canning salt, a cup and a half of brown sugar, and tablespoon of Warshire all mixed in a gallon of water. Left it sit a little over a day in the fridge. I removed the fish out of my brine and washed them in cold water. I patted them dry and propped open the chest cavities with wood stakes. I waited about two hours till the fish felt tacky and put them in my totem smoker. I added hickory chips twice during my smoke. I removed them after 7 hours. I’ll let you know how they taste after supper.
Just after removing from the brine solution before they went in to my smoker...
2hours in...
After 7 hours...
I opened up the larger ones tail where the thickest part of the fish seems to be and the meat was flakys so I would assume I’m good to go. I’ve smoked tons of carp and it normally takes 10 hours. I never smoked a fish whole with the head still on so this is a first. The heads themselves look like a taxidermist freeze dried them and look and feel like rawhide.