I don’t fillet a ton of fish, so I can’t add to the discussion but I do have a question to those that use them. Are they really that much better than a regular *sharp* fillet knife? I used an electric for carving several turkeys and didn’t think it was much better than a sharp carving knife. I don’t see many folks using them on ocean fish, and a sharp Marttini/Normark/Rapala or Dexter Russell seems to take care of sea trout and reds. Not a knock on them, just a legit question before I run out and buy one myself.
The benefit of the electric is speed. It also makes it easier on the guy doing the cleaning since you don’t have to push hard, which isn’t a big deal cleaning 6 crappie but becomes more of an issue when you’re cleaning 66 crappie. I don’t use one on catfish, I can do a much better job with a sharp bait knife. But crappie, sandbass, or walleye, I can do just as good a job in less than half the time.
