When I was a Freshman in High School I weighed less than 90 lbs---------When I was 12 the family made it's annual trip to the the tip of Washington state (Sekiu WA) for salmon fishing.
I vividly recall having to use Brillo pads to remove the rust from the 'Shiners' so that they did indeed shine in preparation for the big trip.
Anyway I hooked a 27 lb King. Do you think that my 250 lb father or even my grandfather would help? Oh Hell No!----You caught it, you reel it in.
I'd have to dig but I have a color slide of me holding that damn fish. My grandfather had to use a light meter to set his camera for the picture but could I have just had it laying on a table???? OH NOOOOOOOO! I had to stand there holding 27 lbs of dead fish while grandpa got the settings!!!
I look like I'm in excruciating pain! It was the biggest fish caught during the trip.
I'd call the smoking process a bit of both as I used the smoking tube to provide the smoke and it didn't get over 75 degrees inside the smoker but after the smoking was done, I did use the heat source so it got up to about 200 degs inside.
While the USDA recommends that fish be cooked to 145 degs for safety I only took the fillets to 135. They are frozen so any parasites are being killed as I write.
If you have a good recipe/process for Lox please send it to me as I'd love to try it. I'm sure that with just a bit of coaxing I could persuade my son in law for at least a bit to play with---:w