Mark, It was about 2 hrs for the smoke to dissipate. I used hickory this last time, but I've made it before with a combination of apple & maple or pear & apple. Any fruit wood will suffice for smoking fish. Ya just gotta experiment with what tastes best to you at the time. I keep my smoking time to the minimum because like you say it can get overpowered pretty quick and ruin a good batch. You also have to experiment with the amount of hot sauce to use for your liking.
I have a Brinkman electric that holds 3 racks. I also use the brine instead of water to fill my water pan to keep the fish moist.
Dang, now ya got me thinkin about it so I guess I gotta go break up a couple of chunks again. Btw, it tastes real good on top of a salad.