WASILLA — When it comes to smoking salmon, Scott Wohlford is hardly a fish out of water.

Wohlford won four of the five top awards at the recent Salmon Gone Wild contest at Colony Days, reinforcing the local man’s pride in creating some of the best of what Alaska’s famous for. And while those judging Salmon Gone Wild validate Wohlford’s talent with salmon and a smoker, he says he still has a lot to learn about smoking fish. In fact, his winning samples all came from the same fish and were smoked just one hour before the competition.

“Everyone kept telling me I had the best smoked fish in the area,” Wohlford said. Wohlford, a Wasilla resident, is tight-lipped about the mix of spices he uses for his winning recipe, but said he uses the same process most people do when smoking salmon. His method is just a little more meticulous. The combination of the right smoke and brine flavors, types of wood used and time in the smoker are all key factors to a successful batch of fish, he said.

Alder and mesquite, or a combination of the two, are the best woods to use, he said.

“I like the alder,” Wohlford said. “It gives it a little kick. Hickory gives it a twang. A lot of people use alder from their yards, but a useful tip: don’t strip the bark off or you’ll end up having numb lips. I didn’t know that until my brother-in-law told me.”

For beginners in smoking, Wohlford suggests starting small.

“The Little Chief, which costs around 70 bucks, is the best smoker to experiment with,” he said. “Then move to a Big Chief, where you don’t have to cut the fillets in half.”

Next, Wohlford said buy smoker bags and wood chips, which run about $2.50 a bag. Use half a bag for smoking one to five fish.

“The more fish in the smoker, the longer it takes to remove moisture,” he said. “When you’re experimenting, try lightly smoked first. Brown sugar and white sugar should be used, as it helps preserve the fish. From there, it’s what you like: onion salt, garlic or soy sauce. There’s a lot of different ways to go.”

When the fish have been cleaned, set them out to dry for an hour, Wohlford said. The pellicle, or slimy sealing of the surface, should be sticky to the touch, which shows it’s ready for the smoker.

“It takes years of experimenting,” he said. “A Big Chief works for big smoking jobs and takes all the guess work out. I’ve gone through six of them already.”

Wohlford said he prefers smoking reds, silvers and kings, but that it is difficult to tell the difference once they’re smoked.

“I still like the reds,” he said. “Copper River reds have the highest oil content. Use a honey glaze and they look and taste perfect.”

When it comes to seasoning his prized salmon, Wohlford said he prefers a sweet blend that is a little dry, but results in a mostly moist, tasty, firm finish. Using a dry brine made up of various salts, spices and sugars also plays a part in his finished product.

“You want to brine it until you figure it’s had enough brine in, and moisture out of, the fish,” he said.

The curing process took years and several bad batches of dried-out fish for Wohlford to perfect.

“I would use this old outside smoker, but never could make it consistent,” he said. “I’d use a different brine every year, a different product every year. Then, 10 years ago I came across a batch of dry brine. It would make every batch consistently the same.

“I like to use three Big Chief smokers,” Wohlford said. “Each one smokes about 50 pounds of fish, so I can do 150 at a time, weather depending. If it’s moist outside, then it takes anywhere between eight to 24 hours.”

Raised in Wisconsin, Wohlford was born to fish. In 1980, he came to Alaska to try to fish with the big boys. During that first summer, he tended salmon and crab in Bristol Bay on his brother-in-law’s boat.

“It was rough and not what I expected, but it hooked me on salmon for sure,” he said.

Now an office manager for Lee Realty, Wohlford said he still likes to fish, but only on his free time.

At the Salmon Gone Wild competition hosted by the IBEW, Wohlford’s samples blew the other contestants out of the water, judges said.

“That was my first time in a competition,” he said. “The other guys were pretty good, but the judges came back and said, ‘You have the best.’”

The key to preparing fillets of salmon for the smoker is taking good care of the fish, Wohlford said.

“You want to prime the freshest fish for smoking. The tainted or older ones won’t taste as good, because you’ll want that rich, salmon flavor to come through,” he said. “That’s why I don’t use ones that haven’t been handled properly, then it’s tainted.”

Wohlford said he has turned even the most finicky eaters into smoked salmon fanatics. “I’ve had people say they didn’t like smoked fish and taste mine and love it afterwards.”

Wohlford said smoking fish is a hobby and that he’s never sold his product. After his big win at Salmon Gone Wild this summer, his outlook hasn’t changed.

“I give a lot away,” he said. “I am used to doing up to five fish and giving half of those away. I’ll pay for the all the ingredients, but I won’t give away the blend.”

Contact J.J. Harrier at valleylife@frontiersman.com or 352-2269.