The great fillet knife debate.....

Havent been posting much because ive been busy fishing at the coast, AND finally moved out of charlotte.

Many have asked me what is the "best" fillet knife to use out there. This is a subjective question in a way, so thought id make a somewhat long winded post.

I fillet probably over 1000 fish per year. I have tried just about EVERY knife in the market and have it narrowed down to my favorites. I personally chose to use a hand knife over electric because 1. I dont conveniently have a outlet usually when i have to clean fish, and 2. I guarantee you all that i can clean a pile of fish with a hand knife faster than MOST of you can without wasting any meat. Like i said, ive tried practically all and have trashed several i will never use again.....

here is the line up of the winners:

http://i46.photobucket.com/albums/f1...psactg3om9.jpg

#1 and #2 from left to right are the same Dexter standard long shank white handled knife. There are several dexters on the market out there....DONT BE FOOLED by the cheap ones that have the knock off plastic handles.
The only disadvantage of this knife is that if you drop it, the tip may chip like #2 and now all i have is a knife to cut through the rib cage.

#3 is a new to me dexter thin blade, very light weight. This is MY FAVORITE when it comes to filleting crappie, flounder, spanish mackeral and other small game fish.

#4 is the ever so popular, highly advertised BUBBA BLADE. in my opinion, this knife is completely over rated, and would not buy this with my own money. only reason i have this knife is because i found it abandoned at a cleaning station. the only time i use this knife is to cut through thick rib cages and fillet out the fish (take skin off with a different knife) of thick boned fish such as striper, cobia, grouper, ect ect.

#5 is also another favorite of mine, the Cutco expandable blade that costs about $100. If you need a versatile knife that holds an edge, this may be worth the money. If you lose the edge, they will ship you a new blade (approx $12). I like this knife for the snapper, grouper, kings and other semi thick bodied fish. #1-2 and 3 will handle this as well but ive just happened to get this for x-mas one year and use it all the time.

Lastly #6 is the newer cuda knife. Just started using this and do like it. nice blade, holds an edge and seems to be as comperable as #3. Still playing with it and trying to get some use on it so i cannot say if it holds an edge great, but so far so good.

In summary if i were to choose a knife to fillet crappie/brim it would be #3, 5 and 6. (#3 being my favorite)

If i need just 1 knife to do all the heavy lifting and would last me a good while it would be #1-2 and #5

and again the only thing i would use #4 for (the bubba blade) would be to cut through a rib cage and finish off a fillet (using a different knife to take the skin off). The steel on the bubba blade is not as good as advertised.

hope this helps some!!

Pete

I know you said that you liked hand knife over electric due to no plug in. Well I can say Rapala has a lithium ion cordless fillet knife with a 6" blade and a 7.5" blades, 2 lithium ion battery, charger and caring case and i have cleaned 100+ crappie at one time with no loss of power. This knife is amazing and once you get the hang of how to use it you can fillet a fish as good if not better than a hand knife and faster as well. Now when it comes to striper or catfish it works good as well but I tend to use a hand knife. Now i have used some of those knifes in your test and I do like them but I am using a knife from a small knife shop called ( Custom Cutlery & Ironworks ) now they have some nice knives for fishing, hunting and the kitchen. As you know there are many options out there for fillet knifes it just all depends on how it feels to you. For you people out there that are against electric knifes ( I was ) just try one you may be amazed.

But the real question is can a electric knife survive in a tough saltwater environment where it may stay on a boat and be out in the elements frequently?

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Originally Posted by pete

But the real question is can a electric knife survive in a tough saltwater environment where it may stay on a boat and be out in the elements frequently?

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no the electric knife can't survive the saltwater environment staying on a boat !!! that said nothing going to survive the saltwater environment too long staying on a boat I seen some real nice stainless steel knife blades ruined by saltwater !!!! worked on shrimp boats in Beaufort, SC growing up as a kid many moon ago !!! saltwater environment is some tuff stuff !!!!

Thanks Pete, this is a good thread. What's been hard on my knives lately is lack of use !

I have bought several fillet knives over the years and not one of them possessed the skills to do a good job and not leave meat!

The cheap reground knives at beach bait shops are great too. Just have to dig thru short ones to find one with 5 or 6 inches of blade left. Shorter ones make great knives for cutting bait too. Most shops have scissors too.