stockie fish from still waters are hard work to make taste half decent. they smoke ok, but they need to be brined or salted first, 2-4 hours at least then rinsed in clean water, and patted dry before smoking, still might not be enough, depends on the water the fish came out of. You can pickle them like Gravad Lax as well which gets rid of the earthy taste. Smoke them slowly as well so they don't cook too quickly. smoking really is thew only way to end up with something that tastes vaguley edible
Its one of the reasons I won't fish stockie waters, plus the fact that stockie fish have lead pretty sedentary lives, soing nowt except sitting in a big tank full of hormones and anti-biotics having trout pellets thrown at them.
river trout are a different kettle of, well, fish. much nicer