I eat a pound of bacon for breakfast, a pound of bacon for lunch, and I smoke cigs for dinner. I am not worried about a lil mercury. In all seriousness I think most guys will tell you the smaller fish taste better. As far as contaminents I suppose the largers do have more because they are both older and larger. I also believe guys only really start worrying about having to put them in the smoker when the fish start to darken up. That being said there is nothing wrong with smoking a nice silver mid summer fish. It is just a personal preference thing but when they do darken I think most smoke em