Smoked Fish

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There are few fishermen like Mike Valley left on the Mississippi River.

Valley is a third generation fisherman, the work is in his blood. He’s one of the many people who have fished this water for about a thousand years.

He grew up hunting, trapping, clamming and working with his father. His dad also had a shop on the river and sold his fish to markets in Chicago, New York and Boston.

Sitting in his fishing boat, with the bluffs of the Mississippi on both sides, Valley describes being out on the water and catching fish as peace and tranquility.

“Sitting here right now, this is absolutely beautiful to me, to get out of that phone ringing, people talking, all day, every day .. it’s just ahhhhh,” he said with a smile.

He’s owned Valley Fish and Cheese in Prairie du Chien since the 1980s. But as the fishing industry changed, Valley knew the only way he was going to survive was by forging his own path: sell quality, fresh fish and products that you can’t find anywhere else.

“You’ll never have anyone come into my shop and then leave and go home and tell all their friends and relatives, ‘This guy had beef jerky. Or, oh my God, he had Colby cheese!’ Valley said. “No. He had snapping turtle jerky and alligator jerky, catfish bologna — the weird things.”

Even though Valley’s caught millions of pounds of fish, the novelty hasn’t worn off.

“Catching fish, I still really truly enjoy catching fish. The cleaning, not so much, but that’s part of the job,” he said with a laugh.

“Everybody that I take with me always … they’re like, ‘Oh my God this is so fun, man this is really great,’” he continued. “And then you get back and they go, ‘See ya!’”

Valley is particular — years of fishing and smoking his catch have taught him that you can’t cut corners if you want to stand out.

Valley cleans the fish — typically catfish, carp, buffalo and sturgeon — up to four times. Then he brines it for at least half a day.

Details matter, he says. Not all fish are the same — and they shouldn’t be treated the same. The thicker the fish, such as Atlantic salmon, the more salt you’re going to need. And each fish has its own brine with different seasonings to bring out its flavors.

Valley then puts the fish in the smoker — which he claims is the only licensed 100 percent wood smoker in the state. He uses hickory wood for the most part, but on occasion he’ll burn a little applewood.

“We light it with wood, it ends with wood,” he said. “No liquid smoke, no gas, no nothing. And that is huge. It makes a world of difference.”

And it can’t be rushed, patience is key. Valley could finish the fish in an hour, but he prefers to give the fish 10 to 12 hours to really soak up the smoky flavor.

He relates it to a sponge.

“If you just barely hold it on the water and just mist it, it sucks it in and takes time,” Valley said. “So that’s what you want to do with the fish. You want to very slowly permeate it and bring it up to temp.”

“Otherwise if you just cook it, it’s just a cooked piece of fish, it isn’t smoked,” he continued.

Valley jokes about a ‘law’ he has at Valley Fish and Cheese when customers make a modest purchase — once you buy it and leave the door, you can’t come back in and buy more that day.

“I will literally, honestly hear 10 times a day, this is unbelievable smoked fish,” he said. “Because it was swimming yesterday and was smoked today. Yeah, it’s to die for.”

Yet all that being said, Valley says you don’t necessarily need to head over to the Mississippi River and catch the fish yourself. He recommends finding a nice piece of salmon (or your fish of choice) and practicing a little patience.

This story is part of Food Traditions, a multimedia project exploring food and culture across Wisconsin. It originally aired on June 30, 2020.