Age old question. Electric or old school knife?

I know this has been hashed and rehashed but let's warm it up again.

Who uses manual vs an electric fillet knife?

I have used the black and decker fillet knife for yrs now. Mostly because they're fairly cheap and by the time the blades dull I can just go get a new one.

Well I went through five of them last yr. On two separate occasions I took a brand new one out of the box filleted one or two fish before one side of the blades quit running, only to return it and have the replacement do the same thing. The last one I bought is still sitting in the cabinet waiting to be returned.

Bottom of the knife says "made in China" go figure. Needless to say I've bought my last black and decker. And yes I know, you get what you pay for.

Being fed up with that and not ready to put out money for an American angler I decided to buy an old school straight blade knife.

I got a mustard knife on the World Wide Web with an 8" blade for about $20. My first use was on the fish I posted yesterday and I think bit went pretty well.

The smaller fish were really easy. The big boys took a little more effort to get through the rib section but were really no more difficult than using the electric knife.

After just one use I think I'm at least as fast as I was with the electric maybe a little faster. Just need a little practice to perfect it. One thing I noticed is I definitely get more meat off the backbone.

So far I'm pleased with the new method. Who else does it old school?

Hwy 2W,

I use the mister twister electric less than $20 a wal mart. I give the wife a new one every Christmas:biggrin

I'm about 4 times faster with an electric knife than I am with a hand held knife .

I used to be all electric when possible till I had the same experience as you but with a different brand. Been strictly ole school with rapala blade for years. Thinking about ponying up for the full set of Bubba Blades this summer.

Vet, check that price again. They are up in the 20's. I prefer electric. I can do my one or two fish in no time. I use the blue/white mister twister , but I use the shorter blades for freshwater fish and speckled trout, and the longer blades for red fish. Although the last reds I cleaned, I used a hand knife. I did not cut through the ribs, but around them. I have one fused wrist and the other is arthritic and it is getting hard to cut through the ribs on bigger reds and bass. Thinking about trying a bubba blade. They are expensive, but my friend's son uses nothing but. He cleans a lot of speckled trout, reds and tuna. Says the bubba made him throw away his electric.

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Originally Posted by dpisani

Vet, check that price again. They are up in the 20's. I prefer electric. I can do my one or two fish in no time. I use the blue/white mister twister , but I use the shorter blades for freshwater fish and speckled trout, and the longer blades for red fish. Although the last reds I cleaned, I used a hand knife. I did not cut through the ribs, but around them. I have one fused wrist and the other is arthritic and it is getting hard to cut through the ribs on bigger reds and bass. Thinking about trying a bubba blade. They are expensive, but my friend's son uses nothing but. He cleans a lot of speckled trout, reds and tuna. Says the bubba made him throw away his electric.

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I priced some bubba blades for about $60 but opted for the cheaper mustad just to find out if i could use a fillet knife or not. I'll use this for the time being but may have to drop some strong hints to Mrs.20 bout how i'd sure like to upgrade to the bubba...... :biggrin

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Originally Posted by jig rig

Hwy 2W,

I use the mister twister electric less than $20 a wal mart. I give the wife a new one every Christmas:biggrin

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I got a mister twister for christmas a couple yrs ago, the green version. I use it as a backup. I never was very happy with how it cut, seemed like either the blades run to slow or they didn't have long enough stoke to the movement.. :dono

I've been using electric knives, but have recently decided to try a fixed blade fillet knife. The wife got me a Dexter fillet knife from basspro, I haven't used it yet, but it seems to be a decent blade, thought it didn't come razor sharp, I may try to reprofile it to a convex edge. They use a proprietary stain free high carbon steel blade, and its made in the USA. I wanted one made by Svord,which is a company in New Zealand, but she couldn't seem to find one, they also use high carbon steel and are sharpened with a convex edge.

I used conventional knives for years. I finally got an electric. I use the regular fillet knives as back ups and on occasion. Electrics take allot of the work out of cleaning 30 crappie.

Would prefer the electric but get alot prettier filets by hand..... Volume of fish.... Not a concern at the moment.