Is there a real advantage to high end knives for fish fillet?

ElementalBreakdown

ElementalBreakdown

Gold Member
Joined
Jul 14, 2020
Messages
489
I just saw the Benchmade "Meat Crafter" for an eye watering price of $300+.
My $15 Dexter cuts fillets (I try to use a different knife for bait but when it gets nuts anything goes).

I am actually hoping someone tells me that S45VN makes a world of difference because I like nothing more than spending more than I can afford on gear I use half a dozen times a year.
So if you have experience with both, what do you think?
 
No real advantage, and the fish won't know the difference. For fish, it's all about how much flex do you want? The Meat Crafter is more of camp kitchen knife, or butcher knife, rather than a fillet knife. At least on smaller fish. It would likely be the bee's knees on salmon, big cats, stripers, tuna, etc.
 
I've used Rapalas for decades. 6" Rapala soft grip is my go to fillet knife. A great knife at $20. I have also used a Mora. I mean, everyone has Moras laying around.

I'm no expert but I can do a respectable job in filleting a fish. I see no need to spend more then $35 or so on a fillet knife. HINT: Moras fishing knife is $33 or so....

Put that extra $ you saved from your knife toward other gear.

PS. Beer/booze counts as gear.
 
Way back in the dark ages I fileted all my fish with a Russel/Dexter 6-inch boning knife. Then I started fishing deeper water in Puget Sound and catching bigger fish. I heard the commercial guys all used Swedish Frosts fileting knives (This used to be Scandinavian country) so I bought a 7 and an 8-inch knife, both Swedish stainless but nothing super steel by this group's standards. Both knives were far superior to the plain 1095 carbon Dexter.
 
I have one of the old Gerber "coho" blades, with the cast aluminum handle. It has filleted tons of fish, and still is just as good as the day I got it. Fish flesh is pretty easy on a blade
 
Sidehill Gouger said:
Way back in the dark ages I fileted all my fish with a Russel/Dexter 6-inch boning knife. Then I started fishing deeper water in Puget Sound and catching bigger fish. I heard the commercial guys all used Swedish Frosts fileting knives (This used to be Scandinavian country) so I bought a 7 and an 8-inch knife, both Swedish stainless but nothing super steel by this group's standards. Both knives were far superior to the plain 1095 carbon Dexter.
Click to expand...
This is my Dexter. Inherited it from my best friend. It's a good knife, especially where there's no power for the electric.

View attachment 1884665
 
Apart from bragging rights with your fishing buddies, I have never found the need for an expensive fillet knife. Rapalas and Cutco knives have worked for me for decades.
 
Unless you are a deck hand on a party boat and do 100-200 fish for the customers on the way in daily, there really isn't any "need" for an expensive or high end steel fillet knife.
Just about all will do the job.
 
If your a professional fisherman etc that cleans a LOT of fish, then I could see how having a fillet knife in a super steel would be really nice, otherwise I don’t see much NEED. But in that case we really don’t NEED super steels for our fancy folding knives etc anyway 🤷🏻‍♂️
 
In my experience cheap knives either sink as fast at as expensive ones or drift away just as fast, A few feet in the atlantic is lost forever. Having said that I have a mora with a broad thin blade unusually wide at the tip has been good to me for a long time. I think it might be the Broad Fishing Knife,
 
Last edited:
KenHash said:
Unless you are a deck hand on a party boat and do 100-200 fish for the customers on the way in daily, there really isn't any "need" for an expensive or high end steel fillet knife.
Just about all will do the job.
Click to expand...
Your point is well made. I have a dirty dog of a friend of mine that takes his grand kids fishing in Alaska (never asks me...) when the salmon are running. He says you don't need a guide to fish, but getting your fish cleaned and packaged there is a life saver. He catches that many, and has part FedEx(ed) home and gives a bunch to relatives along the way back. Of course I had to ask him about the cutlery.

Apparently they use a lot of Rapala and their clones on the riverside processing areas. He told me the blades were all sizes as they cleaned several fish, then ran them over a chef's rod for a few swipe and were right back at it. He said the fanciest thing he saw in the whole fishing camp was the commercial grade vacuum sealer.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top