[Tilesetter]

I need advise on who makes the best fillet knives. My fishing buddy bought a set of knives that seemed to be real nice. He paid like $80 for these knives. After cleaning the first fish I was ready to throw the knives in the lake. They got very dull very fast. It was almost embarassing to try and clean these fish with a line of guys waiting to clean their fish watching us struggle to finish up. Who makes the best and where do I get them. I don't care if they cost $150 each. I want good knives. Thanks for any help.

 

[Pike]

I have a knife that I love and holds an edge. Cutco Makes it. I know that is was under $40. It is called the fisherman's solution. Here is a link, however the price is not listed.
http://www.cutco.com

 

[Fish4Fun]

I am with pike on this on i also have the fishermans solution my parents bought it for me last yr nice knife here is the link to the knife has nice sheath and even has a fish gripper on it for cleanning. The only other option that would be real nice is if we just had places like lake erie does were you can just drop off the fish and they clean them.

http://www.cutco.com/jsp/catalog/detail.jsp?categoryId=90&ensembleId=10330

 

[duckboat]

I've had a Schrade Uncle Henry fillet knife for ten years and it still holds an excellent edge. I think it cost me around $30.00.

 

[leeabu]

http://www.cutleryandmore.com/shop/details.asp?SKU=1030
Best fillet knife you can get no matter what the price. This is what professional chef's use.

 

[WINNER]

Here is an idea...release the fish back into the water. Then you don't need any knives!

Winner

 

[TIGHTLINER]

Wow, thats cute, it takes a real winner to come up with an idea like that.

I've had several fillet knives and I guess from the volume of fish that I clean each year, none of them seem to hold of to the wear and tear. I've heard that electric is the way to go. I'm using a rapala fillet knife right now.

 

[twistertail]

Rapala knives are very good. I have 2 that I have had for about 10 years but my dad has 8 or 10 of them and some are over 30 years old.

 

[RONK]

I've used both the mister twister & rapala electrics, & they are definately the way to go. I mostly pan fish & these knives are twice as fast, less waste, once you get used to them, and the blades will stay sharp for quite a while. I've had the mister twister 2 1/2 years, have cleaned tons of fish & replaced the blades once.

 

[twistertail]

How do you do panfish with the electric knife? I have never used one but it seems like smaller fish would be hard to do. Do you use the electrci to cut the fillets of the skin?

 

[WINNER]

Justin,
After looking at your website, I can tell our motivations or fishing are on opposite ends of the spectrum...That being said, I was not trying to attack you, just repeating the old adage "a picture is worth a thousand filets"

Winner

 

[RONK]

The electric knife is great on panfish. Basically you make your initial cut from just behind the head down to the tail holding close to the backbone. Takes about 5 seconds to rib them & that's a little tricky till you get the hang of it. Then you just cut the skin away from the fillet. The bluegill are a little more difficult than the crappie or perch, but it works great on all of them. You may ruin a few fish until you get the hang of it, but I never use a standard knife unless I'm cleaning large walleye or steelhead. The big fish will ruin the blades in a hurry.

 

[Corey]

This depends on your personality believe it or not. The type of angler who doesn't mind sharprning a knife pretty often would probably like one with a low-carbon steel blade. They sharpen quickly and take a good edge but need resharpened very often to keep them in condition. Low carbon blades are also more prone to rust. On the other hand, anglers who don't want the hassle of constant sharpening would probably prefer a knife with a high-carbon steel blade. Although they take much more effort to sharpen they hold their edge for much longer. Rust isn't as much of a factor with the high carbon blades.

 

[steelmagoo]

Ditto duckboat. Mine is the Uncle Henry Steelheader. I use it on everything, big and small. I use a steel to touch it up every so often.

 

[misfit]

corey made a good observation.i like both types for different things,because of those differences.guess i have a dual personality
though there are lots of great knives on the market,from 6-600 dollars,i personally love rapalas.they take a great edge with just a few swipes on a decent steel or ceramic rod.and hold it through several fish.i could probably filet out a couple dozen eyes and only have to spend no more than a couple minutes touching up the blade in the proccess.i've used other more expensive knives,but in my opinion,after using rapalas for as long as i can remember(which is a lot of years,lol),they're about as good as you can get at any price.i think any knives that will hold an edge longer will also take much more work to restore the edge.after sharpening,i also give my knife a few licks on an old leather belt before each use,to finish off the edge.

 

[TIGHTLINER]

LOL It's all good! As husky hooker would say yum yum eat them up!