I must admit I never heard of sauger until I spent a summer in college working in Wisconsin Dells and spending a lot of time on the Wisconsin River. It was full of them. Locals told me sauger was a lot like walleye and the taste was sweeter. I went to the river hoping to land catfish and was pleasantly surprised.

Growing up fishing the rivers and lakes in and around Chicago, there were not a lot of sauger—a cousin to the walleye—to be found. Fishing the Wisconsin near Prairie du Chien, not far from where I attended college in Platteville, I was overwhelmed by them. That motivated me to try cooking them, and I was hooked.

We Chicago folks get spoiled with our salmon, trout, catfish and perch, and sometimes turn our noses up when it comes to fish we are not overly familiar with. I had this attitude when it came to sauger.

However, sauger is a white meat fish, that’s good breaded, fried or baked, and can stand up to a lot of flavors and diversity in dishes. Many people get caught up in catching and cooking the same type of fish, often the same way. I’ve always thought it was a good idea, especially if adapting a healthier eating lifestyle, to branch out and explore preparing fish outside of one’s comfort zone.

The Illinois River has a decent sauger population and some of the locals I’ve met have shared a variety of recipes for consuming this underrated river species.

The following are a couple of recipes where sauger can shine.

Double-Mustard Coated Baked Sauger

4 sauger fillets

1/2 cup of white wine

1/4 cup of olive oil

3 tablespoons of mustard (Dijon)

2 tablespoons of mustard seeds

2 teaspoons of white pepper

2 teaspoons of dry dill weed

In a blender or food processor, mix, wine, mustard seeds, mustard, pepper and dill. Rub fish with mixture and let sit in refrigerator for one hour before baking in roasting pan for about 20 minutes. Serve with brown rice.

Honey and Orange Marinated Sauger

4 sauger fillets

1/2 cup Sprite or 7-Up

3 tablespoons canola oil

1/2 cup orange juice

1 tablespoon honey

2 tablespoons soy sauce

1/3 cup apple juice

1 ounce parsley, chopped

Cook sauger in a sauté pan with oil, take out, add soda, orange juice, apple juice and honey to pan and let simmer about 3 to 5 minutes or until mixture reduces, put fish back in pan and let simmer for a minute and top with soy sauce and parsley. Serve with steamed asparagus

You’ll find more recipes to prepare using the meat and fish that you’ve harvested yourself in every issue of MidWest Outdoors, available by subscribing on our website.