Rick, I use frozen fish a lot, because I go by the theory that when it is caught to be frozen it is frozen very quickly. If it is shipped here (the Dallas/Fort Worth area) from someplace hundreds or thousands of miles away as "fresh" then it has been out of the water for at the least a couple of days, probably more. Look at the eyes if you're buying fresh fish (they should look good, not sunken) and they should NEVER SMELL FISHY. If they froze it to ship it here then thawed it to sell it in the butcher case, then you can't take it home to freeze again. So save the guesswork. If you can't get it fresh not frozen that is truly fresh, frozen is better. If you use frozen fish, cook it right away, and be careful how you defrost it. You don't want to grow bacteria in it as it thaws at room temperature. I thaw in the fridge if I can make it fit, or in the sink in water.

Beccy, your fish sounds good.

Hey, Spaw, I have a real good brine recipe that I put my salmon in before I smoke it. Is that the kind of smoking you're interested in?

SRS