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Smoking fish is nothing short of excellent!...I have gone thru a few smokers. I started out buying a cheap "little chief" from LL bean which rotted out pretty guick and eventually got a serious stainless smoker. IMO what you should look for in a smoker is that it is insulated. You want it like a refrigerator. The better you can contol the temp the better and more consistant your product will be. You don't want the wind to be able to blow into the box. And don't open the door that much. Also I like stainless because I dont like eating anything that comes from a rusty looking bucket. But that is me.
Most smokers have books and instructions on how to do it with all the details spelled out. Also the book store (and I am sure internet) has some great smooker cook books. I have tried just about smoking everthing. Mac's are excellent smoker, one of the best. In fact out of all the fish I have ever smoked I think I got the most compliments from the macs. (If I could only catch them now!)
IMO just about any fatty fish (oily) smokes great. Ie. A blue is better then a bass smoked. I have smoked Bonito, Bass, Albies, bluefish, macks, snappers, marlin, mako shark, swordfish, dolphin, fluke, tog, seabass even clams mussels and oysters..you name it I tried it. I still have not found an edible way to consume an albie. But, stick to the tried and true recipes in the books at first and don't do large amounts until you have it down. It is not hard and you don't need to spend a ton of $ to do it. Most smokers are way to big for the homeowner looking to make an appitizer or smoke some ribs...you don't need to smoke 15 chickens at a time or 40 lbs of meats. Start out small.
Let me tell you you will make a lot of friends when you have a smoker...everyone asks me for some smoked fish. It probably is one of the best Hors d'oeuvres going. The taste is wonderful and you can experiement a lot with different brines and woods...it is a fun hobby. (I bring it to parties as a gift..and people love it.)
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