What some would view as a tree change in reverse, Matthew Bolton's love for his now-wife is paying off, with his smoked rainbow trout winning him kudos.

He has been awarded the only silver at the recent Sydney Fine Food Awards for his smoked rainbow trout, as a first-time entrant.

To get there, he gave up a life of skippering a square rig ship in the Caribbean for life in a smokehouse at Raleigh, on the New South Wales mid-north coast.

"To have the wind just above the beam running up the lee side of St Vincent it is gorgeous, absolutely gorgeous," Mr Bolton said, while standing before the steel doors of his two smoking ovens.

"That's where the magic happens."

Mr Bolton's product is smoked using wood chips from local pecan trees.

Mr Bolton feeds pecan wood chips from local growers into the smoker. ( ABC Rural: Michael Cavanagh )

"Pecan is hickory, which is the king of smoking timbers. Oak is the queen they say. The pecan is from orchards in the area," Mr Bolton said.

"I am fortunate that I don't have to rely on any kiln-dried timber. I can get real timber with real oils and real resin.

"I think one of the secrets to flavour in smoked fish is using real timber."

The smoke generated by the smouldering hickory is funnelled up a flue, then back down the rear of the oven.

It then billows up, seeping through the trays of trout or salmon.

Best fish sourced from around the world

Before all this happens, Mr Bolton soaks the fish in a brine of varying strength.

Some of the fish is also salted.

Space to play or pause, M to mute, left and right arrows to seek, up and down arrows for volume. Listen Duration: 5 minutes 23 seconds 5 m A Big Country: A smoking fish success story ( Michael Cavanagh ) Download 2.5 MB

While the rainbow trout, which is raised on a farm in Victoria, is what he hangs his shingle on, salmon is also on the menu.

Mr Bolton uses salmon and ocean trout from New Zealand, Norway and British Columbia. ( ABC Rural: Michael Cavanagh )

Salmon from New Zealand, Norway and British Colombia is shipped to the small hamlet of Raleigh, where Mr Bolton works his magic.

"The species of king salmon is only produced in New Zealand in aquaculture," he said.

"My philosophy is to get the best fish no matter where it comes from.

"We get our ocean trout from Norway. They are actually harvested on a Monday and in my smoker on the Thursday.

"There is actually Norwegian ice still in the poly boxes when they arrive."

Celebrating with a rum cocktail

Mr Bolton's passion for treating the fish that ends up at top eateries is obvious.

These days he does very little sailing, despite the eastern seaboard being just a short drive from the smokehouse.

Probably the closest he gets to reliving the life of skippering a vessel in the Caribbean is celebrating his award-winning trout with a rum cocktail.

It is a popular drink that was consumed on board the ships that were once under his command.