Captain succeeded with smoked fish (7)
I believe the answer is:
skipper
'captain' is the definition.
(I know that captain can be written as skipper)
'succeeded with smoked fish' is the wordplay.
'succeeded' becomes 's' (genealogical abbreviation).
'with' is a charade indicator (letters next to each other).
'smoked fish' becomes 'kipper' (I've seen this before).
's'+'kipper'='SKIPPER'
(Other definitions for skipper that I've seen before include "Chap aboard trawler" , "Captain of team or boat - type of butterfly" , "girl with rope?" , "sea-captain" , "who makes short hops" .)