After sharing my initial 'deferred success' on the hot smoking front I persevered when my father-in-law (or his slightly better fisherman neighbour) caught some more trout for me. In addition I added some sardines into the mix which I butterflied, removing the spine and bones from the fish without filleting.
I actually smoked these with silver birch chunks (which In got from horticulturally-minded father, of whom I get most of my smoking wood - I'll do a post in the barbecue thread on this in the future). I'm not sure of the silver birch necessarily tasted different to oak, it probably does to a seasoned expert. However, in my mind silver birch seemed more in tune with river caught fish (less the sardines) and gave me an association of North American rivers teeming with fish and silver birch trees - no idea why I made this association...I just did! I used the same brine from the previous attempt at hot smoked trout, which works a treat with the soy sauce really adding a depth of flavour.
