Fillet knives?

T

Texas Steel

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Starting this thread to get some info on fillet knives. What's been working for you? Difference in steels? How are you sharping and maintaining your edges? What type of fish are you using them on?
 
The pass 2 years ive been using a Bark River Kalahari Sportsman. Great knife! I sharpened it in the Work sharp to 17 degrees on each side then just strop it after a fish or two. The S35VN holds a great edge. Only down side not as much flex as I would hope! Mostly using it on bass, pike and walleye.

And before the Kalahari I used a good ole Rapala fillet knife!!! Probably the best filleting knife for the money around!
 
Because i run a hunting and fishing outpost, i can't use any customs, i go through them too quickly, a 6inch rapala wood handle knife is all i need. keep it sharp, chuck it when it breaks or wears down too much. a 14-28inch long walleye is less than a 30 second job at most. boneless skinless fillets.
i'd love to own a custom or two, EVERY other knife i own and carry is from a custom maker. but when it comes to a tool like a fillet knife, the cost would be too much for me.
 
Rapala here. Everything from sturgeon to trout. I use a cheap old sharpening stone. I think its aluminum oxide.
 
C.F.O. said:
Because i run a hunting and fishing outpost, i can't use any customs, i go through them too quickly, a 6inch rapala wood handle knife is all i need. keep it sharp, chuck it when it breaks or wears down too much. a 14-28inch long walleye is less than a 30 second job at most. boneless skinless fillets.
i'd love to own a custom or two, EVERY other knife i own and carry is from a custom maker. but when it comes to a tool like a fillet knife, the cost would be too much for me.
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Mercy, you made me hungry! :)
 
Buck silver creek six inch for me. Holds up pretty well, as when the catching is good, its really good. Mostly bream, whiting, and trevalley are what I end up getting. I'm not very skilled, and it seems to make up for that a bit.
 
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EKA Fishblade, I got this knife as a birthday gift from a co-worker. It has been holding up really well, good steel and edge retention. I love fishing so this little blade follows me on every trip and has not let me down yet!
 
I bought a Browning several years ago and cant find the exact one listed anymore . It was inexpensive about fifteen dollars . I have filleted one too two hundredof fish with it . It stays sharp for quite awhile , flexible . does an excellent job on 12 inch bass . I would purchase another .

 
I received a fillet knife for Christmas many years ago, a Cutco Fisherman's Solution, the knife is expensive - $100 range. It has an extendable blade 6 - 9 inches in 440A steel (I have purchased replacement blades for it, they cost $34).

It comes with an excellent sheath that can be used as a gripper, notched line cutter, and a sharpening stone; knife comes with a life-time guarantee and is made in the USA.

The fish I have used it on: snook, redfish, flounder, kingfish. Game animals I have skinned and quartered with it: white-tail deer and wild hogs, the flexible blade is very helpful when skinning animals. I have worn a blade out by chipping the edge on game animal

bones but easily replaced it with a replacement blade.

And NO I am not a Cutco salesman.
 
Black rubber handle Rapala. At this point it has a 1000+ walleye on it. Usually maintain it in the field with a small steel but I use my Sharpmaker when it needs it.
 
I use a dexter Russell most the time.Also an electric fillet knife,sometimes clean more than 100 fish at a time.
 
I've been mostly ocean fishing lately. The fish are big. I use a Buck 121, fishing knife, a Victornix Swiss boning knife, ( spelling), Ron Lake fillet knife, and a Buck silver creek bait knife. I like to have more than one blade sharp ready to go. They get a work out and my wife and I can fillet together to speed things up.n i use dmt diamond bench stones to sharpen them.
 
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I have made a a few out of AEB-L and have been getting good feed back. I chose AEB-L because it's stainless, but it will sharpen very easy. I had a table next to a local fishing guide association and got to talk to 10 guides. Almost every one of them complained about having difficulty sharpening there knives. One of the guys ordered one and says it is hands down the best knife he has used. And he was able to get and keep a good edge on it. True, sharpening is something that isn't all that hard to do, once you learn how to do it! With the combo of an easy to sharpen steel, and a thinly ground full flat blade, it is much easier. This is a knife forum, most of us here can sharpen a knife very well, but I find that isn't the case in general.

This one has a blade ~7"
 
C.F.O. said:
Because i run a hunting and fishing outpost, i can't use any customs, i go through them too quickly, a 6inch rapala wood handle knife is all i need. keep it sharp, chuck it when it breaks or wears down too much. a 14-28inch long walleye is less than a 30 second job at most. boneless skinless fillets.
i'd love to own a custom or two, EVERY other knife i own and carry is from a custom maker. but when it comes to a tool like a fillet knife, the cost would be too much for me.
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Just my opinion, and I am a knife maker, so take this with a grain of salt, but I wonder if you would go through them a lot less if you had a good one! Only people who don't use them should a good one? 😜
 
Cody Hofsommer said:
Just my opinion, and I am a knife maker, so take this with a grain of salt, but I wonder if you would go through them a lot less if you had a good one! Only people who don't use them should a good one? 😜
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Haha, you're totally right, my statement was very reductive. i should also state that my knives sit in my fish house (what i call the small building i have purely for cleaning fish and game) so customers also use them. theft isn't an issue, i don't have road access, they need me to shuttle them 24 miles to the nearest logging road by boat or they can't get out, haha so if something expensive goes missing, i'm in control of getting it back.
BUT customers also use them. it's frowned upon, i don't love it, but i'm not locking them up. plus they get used for ducks and geese and grouse etc... so they get beaten up, and over sharpened, and chipped.... etc etc etc.... i also will often use them as boning knives when butchering big game, moose, bear etc....
you are 100% correct in your statement, and ps, i love your knife, my camp colours are forest green and yellow, i'd love to get one that i would keep to myself. but as for my day to day, my knives sit in a public place, and get used by people/and in ways that i don't trust.
If i used a knife just for my own fish. i would spend the money 100%, but how/where i live, pretty well every tool is a multi tool, and that doesn't always serve a more expensive product well.
a knife on my belt or in my pocket, is treated differently.
have you ever done a full matching set? fillet, belt (closer to a bushcraft style), and pocket fixed blade?
if i did buy a new custom knife in the next year, it would be that combo, matching, forest green with yellow. that's my big 2016 splurge.
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TIP OF THE DAY, RIP PVC PIPE TO MAKE EAVES FOR YOUR CLEANING TABLE, then you can hose it off and drain it out into the lake, etc...
 
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