Home Forums Fishing Freshwater What is your favorite fillet knife...?

I've got a few but they are huge. I'm thinking of the one from when I was kid, the Finnish style with a bendy blade, lightweight wood handle, light colored sheath. Any thoughts?

yeah, that's basically it...have had a few of those in my life. Don't know anything about that blade, though, not sure the material

I have a Gerber, a couple of the Rapalas. Two I made from saw blades.

I like a shorter knife. Most of what I catch is not that big.

I've got a dozen or so. Different blades for different fish, different jobs.

but for most of my fillet work on salmon, I grab a cheap Kershaw 10" blade I bought at Cabelas for $10.

A sharp blade is important.

I like all of my Rapalas, as well as my folding Chicago Cutlery, but my son's Cutco is the best.

Hard to beat a 6" or 9" Rapala depending on the size of the fish . I've tried most knives out there and keep going back to Rapala

I exclusively use Rada Fillet Knives. Made in the USA, $20 bucks on Amazon. Click Here



I sharpen them on a Chef's Choice sharpener, because the knife is cheap and I always want to get the filleting job done fast after a day on the lake. I keep several on hand at my cabin and give them away as gifts. Everyone who uses them loves the sharp, flexible blade.

I've been using mostly the cheaper offering pine handled rapalas in the 6 & 9" lengths. I have a couple other ones that have been gifted to me. One thing I've noticed is that a lot of the fillet knives for sale these days are edge ground on one side only. I can work with these but I prefer a 2 sided grind, the one side blades want to draft or plow... the blade climbs one way or another rather that running straight through a cut. It can be corrected by tilting the blade a little, but I've started looking for this and I wont buy one with single sided grind.

I'll probably order one of the Rada knives that Walt posted, I've not heard of them but they sound like something I'd like.

I've got multiple 6" & 9"original Rapalas, a folding buck fillet knife & half a box of others.

Liking the folding buck, after a full season use.

This is the buck folder & my favourite 6" Rapala;

I may have to put you on ignore Paul, you sure know how to hurt a guy!

Not the knife, ALL the fish!

That was last spring, Osborne Bay, Eagle Lake.

Good day, 2 man Walleye limit, + good bag of Jumbos & a northern too !



Home mid afternoon & mild enough to keep the mess outside !!

Paul, Can you take out the "y' bones on a legal size northern?

the ergonomic handle on that looks fantastic, especially useful if your hands are cold

the bottom one looks like a 'bird & trout'

I have a decades old Rapala, a recent white-handled Dexter Russell, a Bubba blade somebody gave me, and very recently, an American Angler electric with 6" and 9" blades.

The electric kicks butt. Whether a small perch or a steel-ribbed channel cat, it just zips right through effortlessly and in complete control.

No, & don't usually keep them, so very little practice.

Got to be winter & about that size, before I'll bother "fiddling" !

sweet

Yeah, I like the looks of it, but have never had a hollow ground blade I liked !

Cisco fisherman's solution.Got it as a gift about 12 years ago. Great knife in my opinion, plus it's a cutco.

can't have everything

Forgot about this one.

Outdoor Edge wild bone.



Great for small fish, fiddly boning etc !

Excellent edge.

Here's a LINK to the electric I have. Note that they're all listed as Sold Out. There's a reason for that: these are the best. They are in stock on Amazon HERE

I’m an old butcher and worked for years in the commercial fishing industry.
It took me a while to get used to an electric filet knife but couldn’t get by without it now.
Best one i ever had was a Hamilton Beach electric carving knife.

Indeed. I'll look for one of those myself.



It's not too bad of a job. Once you've done a few it get's easier. It makes a great eating fish even better.

I have an electric as well. My second one now actually. This second one is the same model as the first one but the blades are too viscous on the second one, luckily I kept the blades for the old one that burned out.

no argument there

With the NW Ontario regulations limiting non residents to only two walleyes a day, I need to start keeping the northerns.

The size limit on those is none over like 29 inches. I need to improve my touch on cutting out those y bones.

This is a custom made knife by Dave Kauffman in Clancy, Montana. He made this for me around 18 years ago. It is a Pakkawood handle and hollow ground blade with lots of flex and extremely sharp...

I remember seeing Don at sports shows, demonstrating his knives. He invariably had a few well-blooded cloth band-aids on his off-fingers.

On lake of the woods, on the US side the limit is 3 total with no keepers between 30 and 40 inches. One can be kept over 40.

interesting. That's not the way I debone pike but it's interesting.

This girl right here is pretty d*mn good...

^^^ that's how I do it. Not as well as she does, but that's what I TRY to do.

lol

Her address is at the end of the video, you can send her your fish and she will send them back, filleted and frozen...

I prefer the Mr twister electric fillet knife. replace the blades on mine every other year. I do the y bones like she did, only I always manage to leave some parts of bone in there.

If I try to use an electric knife for fish cleaning/filleting, I might as well use my chain saw.

I like that as well

That is how it would go with the blades that came on my 2nd mr twister electric. Far too nasty, The blades on my previous (same model) unit still work well though so I use them. Totally different serration patterns in the 2

I have a Mr twister electric too. Works awesome.

I tried a couple different styles of the Rapala electrics when my first Mr twister quit. The Rapalas are junk!

Back to Mr twister for me.

That stinks to hear!

The Rapala blades are very nasty too. Glad I got the same style on my 2nd Mr twister as I did the first.

For Northerns/Pike, this is what I ended up resorting too ! LOL !



But I do, do a better job than him !



Walleye, Perch, Crappie, Smallmouth Bass, I got down pat.

Oh lord.. yes im familiar with that method. Interesting, but it wasnt for me.

I have the small and "regular" sized Rapalas.
They re the bees knees to filet the silverskin off of venison as one is prepping it.

Very cool!!!!!

Good looking knife , I like the flex it has . It's one thing I look for in fillet knives.

You can buy extra blades for both the Rapala’s and the Mr Twisters at most sporting shops and there does seem to be a good deal of difference amongst them. Some last a lot longer than others—some are junk right outta the plastic wrap.
They all burn out sooner or later with the 12V models overheating more quickly.
I have a Mr Twister with short blades for doing perch and removing Y bones and rib bones from pike and pickerel and i have a Rapala with 9-inch ladies for slaying the sides of big fish.
Speckled trout and Lakers have Y bones too

On "How It's Made" last night, they featured White River fillet knives. Beautiful product, and I thought "What a great gift."

This morning I looked them up. A bit rich for me to give away, unless it was somebody very special. But look HERE

i also had a look at their catalogue, great looking products

I’m a retired butcher by trade.
If i owned a $120 6-inch fillet knife it would be mounted in a glass case up on the wall for display purposes only—and you can keep your slimy fingers off the glass. (Smiley face here)

Karl, I've never work in a "pack", meat processing place. Just north of us they have a Tyson pork plant.

From going to a few garage sales, it looks like Tyson uses Victorinox knives, and they grind them often. When the knives get thin enough they must follow the help home.

I think Victorinox and Dexter Russell knives are the most common in commercial fish plants/boats. DR knives are darn good for the money.

Looking up prices on the Victorinox knives, they are not cheap.

$35 for the 8" knife isn't bad. Granted, a Dexter Russell is about half that, but the Victorinox is likely a better knife, too.

Going on a brief sidetrack here - when I was at Wilson's, if someone had occasion to pass through the "wienie room", they would appropriate a package or two in the pouch of their hooded sweatshirt to be heated in the knife sterilizers.

Victornox is the industry standard for sure but Russels are cheaper. If i sharpen every day they are in use, and i do, they wear down quickly. I used to buy them by the dozen from a wholesaler but they ain’t cheap.
Dressing knives on the boats, for whitefish have a round tip—Lieke’s from Portugal.
Best filet knife i ever had was a Swibo 9-iinch—had the perfect amount of flex.
I found a local wholesaler who sells a brand called ‘Rose’ $2.99 for a 6-inch stiff boner which works well for moose boning. I go thru 4 or 5 of them per year.
Knives are not communal property.
You do NOT touch another mans knife—ever. If it needs to be moved—ask him to move it—cuss him out if nessesary—scream at him if you must but DO NOT TOUCH another mans knife. And I don’t want to hear that lame excuse you were just going to wash it.
There is a separate knife rack on the far right side of the boneing table—it contains 4 boneing knives 2 steak knives and a fillet knife and a curved skinner 6-inch. Do Not Touch them—don’t even look at them. I don’t understand why this is so hard for people to understand.
Rant-defiantly not over.

Karl, mind if I look at your knives?

5sdad—Ambassader wieners from Nord-east —skin-on in the sterilizer—they were the best!!

I use a Katsura VG-10 blade, classic filet knife blade shape and style. The VG-10 stays sharp a very long time and is very easy to put back to sharp. Great knife for fish, but when I use it butchering deer I invariably wind up with a nick.

For most fish I prefer a Hoffritz boning knife with a boning knife profile.The steel is very much like 420 and sharpens easily but will not hold an edge anywhere near as long as the VG-10

I watched two different top cut versions, and those give away too much meat IMHO.

This guy has a little different approach than the girl, but I'm not sure he ends up with more meat.

I think I like this guy the best, really makes it look easy.

My buddy Joe has that same fillet knife.

Loves it.

J.A. Henckles;



https://www.amazon.com/ZWILLING-J-A-Henckels-38403-183-Filleting/dp/B00807QCK2

$$$$$ Pricey sumb!tch !

Found the best video yet, from some 'a dem hosers in NW ON, eh, but at dis point youz guys probly don't give a rip

The Bubba Blade 9 inch Flex Fillet Knife

Guys prolly got a beer in one hand, smoke dangling from his lips & doing it all one handed !



Throw 'er up, butter boy !

i'm busy

Forschner 40613.

Hint...............

thanks, stick...

This guy takes it to a whole different level, really...he's using one h*ll of a knife.

This guy isn't too bad with a blade.

Filleting RINK....................

yikes, he's no amateur...would probably have no problem with the 'y' bones on a pike...LOL

Filleting fish is blasse'...but picking Crab is an ART.

Crab Picking RINK

Hint.................

seems like a lot of trouble when you can get something else just as good...LOL

[/url]

Yup, that's pretty good !

I have the same fillet table.

I always filleted my fish from the top down like that salmon commercial guy is doing. Not as fast mind you, but over the top of the rib cage, not through it. I've always liked my Gerber knife for that with a little wider blade and more of a curve toward the tip. We charter fished on Lake Michigan, so I got to clean a lot of salmon and trout. In Canada I got the fish cleaning chore as well and all the northern went back into the lake. Smelly, bony things that they are.

Funny story. I was down in the fish cleaning house with another guy who was cleaning fish when the camp owner came in and read the guy the riot act for cleaning a fish with the knife pointed back toward himself. The guy looked kind of sheepish and said that it always worked okay back home at work. The camp owner asked him what kind of job was that? The guy said, "I'm a medical pathologist in Denver."

Camp owner, "Oh" quick exit.
He must have figured that the guy knew how to work a knife.

That might not be raciest, but still----.