Sauger are good to eat and you are correct that there are advisories on eating fish in the river. The advisories mostly list fish with fattier meat such as white bass, stripers, catfish, and carp. But the advisory doesn't suggest not eating the fish on the list only eating them sparingly and sauger are not on the list.

That said I would say that any fish in the river may have some level of contamination. I know my wife won't eat fish that I bring home and tell her that I caught in the river. She is no expert but it underlines the feeling that many have. My thoughts on eating sauger is I try to eat smaller fish -- larger fish of any species have more of a build up of contaminates in their fatty tissue than smaller fish. Plus I also believe in catch and release especially for larger fish to promote better quality fishing. We all love to catch the big ones and it takes years to grow a big fish so when we take one that is a direct hit to the much smaller population of larger fish. Back to the eating part I also don't eat sauger regularly from the river. Which with my limited ability to even get out and fish the river that isn't an issue any way.

So keep some smaller ones now and then, release the big girls, and have a great fish fry of those Jack Salmon!

kc