Couple of years ago I got stuck pretty bad by a catfish fin while cleaning fish. It happened really fast as I thought he was frozen from the ice chest but he started flipping and flipped off the table. Without thinking I reached and grabbed him before he hit the ground, it was just one of those instinctive moves to catch something as it's falling but I grabbed him wrong and the fin went through the skin between my thumb and first finger.
Well it started to bleed everywhere and stung like hell as you can imagine but eventually I got over it but it was always on my mind for several fishing trips after that. About 2 weeks later I was at academy and they had one of those fillet gloves in the markdown bin. I've seen em before but I never paid em much attention because it looked like it would just slow my filleting down. It was like $3.99 so I figured I'd try it and if I didn't like it I wouldn't be out much.

To this day, I'm super glad I bought one and I use a fillet glove everytime I fillet fish. I did upgrade to a name brand glove because the cheaper ones seem kind of stiff but I have Rapala and Behr and both are very smooth and flexible. They make it easier to grip fish even when slimy or wet and they even keep my hand a bit warmer when I'm cleaning fish that have been covered in ice or in the winter time.
They are machine washable and will last a couple years easily. Cost about $7.99 new at Academy and Wal-mart sells one too but I'm not sure of the brand at wally world.