Best Fillet Knife

Yup, its that time of year again. Time for a “best fillet knife” topic.

I need a fixed blade for doing small messes of panfish and small saugers, times where I do not want to dirty the cordless electric. Want one around 6″, semi-flexible (not stiff, not bendy) and with a very good edge.

So what do you suggest?

Stihl 075 with a carbide tooth chain and a 48″ bar

Wusthof. Best knives period.Spendy but worth it.

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Wusthof. Best knives period.Spendy but worth it.

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I’ve never used their fillet knife, but I own my share of Wusthofs, and they are top-notch.

Six dollar rapala cheapy get well over fifty catfish and saugers before it needs sharpening. Lasts longer than my hundred dollar fillet knife.got it at fleet farm red handle doesn’t come with sheath.buy a couple work great for general use also.

I have several of the Leech Lake Knives, but for a small mess of pannys or an ‘eye or two I always grab my little Rapala wood handled knife. The steel’s not as good and doesn’t hold an edge as well but lasts long enough for small jobs and is easily touched up. It’s a lot more nimble to use than the bigger Leeches jerr

7″ Leech Lake best knife ever. I have did at least 500 panfish this year and as sharp as the first day. Need to tell them you want the 7″ knife when you order. Nothing better in my opinion been using fillet knifes for 30yrs.

Rapala and sharpen with a Work Sharp.

I have lots of cheapos. Rapalas, cabelas, DU giveaway knives. All kinds of cheapos that I sharpen all the time. That is what I am trying to get away from. I want a knife that I can use for a bunch of fish before I need to work on it.

I like my Kershaw adjustable blade knife. I use it at the short setting for more control while cutting through the rib bones. Then, I lengthen the blade (to at least the width of the filet) when I take the skin off the filet. I’m on my first knife (about 15 years old and still great) but ordered 2 extra when I found them on sale.

The old green and yellow electric (Mr Twister) or the 6 inch wood handled rapala. The one with the dark colored wood handle. Sharpened with ceramic sticks. It’s not hard to get them shaving sharp.

The best fillet knife is a brand new one. For me its a cheap rapala and replace about once a year.

I bought a Dunn fillet knife years ago at the Sportsmens show, back when it ran for 10-12 days. The steel is top notch and the handle is still in new condition. Spendy but well worth it. They also sell there own sharpening wheels you can install on your bench grinder. Can do about a 100 fish before touching up the edge.
Dunnknives.com

I’ve got a 5″ paring knife that I’ve used enough that about 1/2 the blades been sharpened away. Fits perfect in the hand and sharpens real easy. It works so well You can read a newspaper through whats left on the bones. Don’t know what kind it is or where I got it, probably a garage sale.

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Wusthof. Best knives period.Spendy but worth it.

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Mine’s at the bottom of Red Lake right now. While it is a great high quality knife, I come to realize that you may not need it. It’ll hold a nice edge a little longer, but overall it’s probably not needed. Fillet knives treally need to be sharpened often to work really well. Needing to sharpen a high quality knife seems like a waste.

For now, I took one of my old knives and spent an hour putting a really nice edge on it. It is an old Normark (Rapala) and has been working great. This one has a polished blade versus the new ones and the Wustof that don’t.

A lot of meat packing plants and butcher shops use Chigago Cutlery knives.I have a couple cast offs from the de-boning line that hold an ede for a long time.kinda mid priced knives.

leech lake hands down……..second best is the black handled rapala then the wood handled rapala. got 15 fish cleaning knives kinda pick and choose depending on the workload……….and amount of helpers . my wife thinks me gotz a knife fetish. dont know what she be talking about.