Electric filet knife suggestions?

[One_eyed_jack]

Okay all you fisherfolk, I am on a search for a good electric fillet knife. The amount of perch and other hard scale fish I have been fileting would make this a possible good purchase. I would like to hear some suggestions on personal experiences good, bad and brands used and if you could do it again, would you? I am looking for a unit that has a rechargable battery and a plug it in to use it.
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[tubeN2]

[cool] Hey there OEJ, You might want to give TubeDude a call on this one or just stay on the line and he will answer your call in the order that it was received. I myself, have never considered a electric fillet knife. I have about

3 fillet knives at home. When I get back from a fishing trip, I just put the rest of the family to work. They get good practice that way. He he
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[One_eyed_jack]

hehehehe... I do not know that my 4 year old and 5 year old are good enough at the hand eye coordination to filet them fishies yet, oh yeah and they do not get to play with knives. I will hold the music is nice...
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[poncho]

I have used electric fillet knives for so long i wouldn't be able to clean a fish without one. I have one in the boat one in the truck and one in the house. Once you get the hang of it you'll never go back. I can fillet a basket full of crappie in no time, you can even fillet catfish. The one's i have are the electric outdoorsman. I don't have one with batteries but the one's in the truck and boat plug into the lighter outlet.
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[BearLakeMack]

[font "Comic Sans MS"][size 3]I've see guys with 12v knives that will pull their trucks up to a cleaning station, pop the hood and the knife has battery cables with clips to power the knives. Looked pretty slick when I was filleting with a knife. I also like the job they do. Nice clean cuts. I need to get one also for cleaning a mess of stripers on a killer day at Mead or a limit or two of wipers.[/size][/font]


[font "Comic Sans MS"][size 3]Who like what brands and what about blade designs? Good question, OEJ![/size][/font]
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[poncho]

I've used Rapala and american angler electric knives that are just as good as my electric outdoorsman. I have also used just a regular house electic that did the job just fine. As far as the blades i've used the pointed one's and the rounded one's and both do the rib bones just fine, i really couldn't tell that much difference. The main thing is keeping sharp blades, but they last a really long time. You will never have to skin another catfish, just run along the back bone flip and run right along the skin. Like i said before try it you won't go back.
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[Kayote]

You can get the American Angler at Walmart for around $10 and it's a great knife. I've been using one for years. I've had both the 120 wall socket version and the 12 volt for the truck. Most state park cleaning stations have a 120 outlet if you look for it.

Good Filleting, Kayote
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[TubeDude]

[cool]Here's a pic of my homemade particle board fillet table. Fits right over a sink or a couple of garbage cans outdoors. The electric you see amongst the other fillet knives and cleavers is an American Angler from Walmart that has probably filleted a thousand fish of all sizes up to 30 pound cats. I have a backup American Angler Ultra Pro model I have had unopened for about two years, expecting the original to die...but it keeps on chugging.



I have used just about every kind of fishing fillet knife made...regular and electric. The old Mister Twisters work well for a season or two, but then they start smoking...and that's a bad habit. If you want to get good service out of an electric plan to spend at least $30, but you don't have to spend $100.

I like the pointed blades on my American Angler. I also like the two sets of blades. I use the longer ones for big fish and the smaller ones for smaller sunfish, perch, etc. I have a small diamond sharpener with a round shaft that fits perfectly in the grooves of the serrated blades and can touch them up once in awhile, although they hold up a long time without assistance.

I too have tried the 12 volt systems. For the most part I have found that they are better than regular knives, but do not have the power of the 110 volt. And, I do not think I would trust a rechargeable for anything other than a quick field fillet on just a few fish. A production line job on a big batch of white bass or perch...or big cats...would suck your battery dry before you got to finish the job...and would probably just make little ones out of big ones. You want plenty of power to keep those blades moving while you guide them effortlessly through the ribs and flesh.

Knives are right up there with lines, lures, baits and fishing spots. We all have our favorites...for our own reasons. I prefer electrics because I consistently get better fillets with less work than with regular knives.

I have worked at commercial fishing and learned how to keep knives razor sharp, and I have learned that the most dangerous knife is a dull one. You have to push harder and with less control...and that makes for slips and cuts...and sloppier fillets. The electric knives really take a lot of the hard work and fussy out of filleting.

By the way, how do you like my fillet table. Picked up the wood as scrap and just cut, sanded and finished it with a couple of coats of urethane finish. I also put a ruler along one edge of it. I'm not saying it is totally accurate, however. MY twenty inchers may measure slightly smaller on other rulers.
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[fishinfool]

I bought an american angler,receharable from sportsmans and it is killer,I have had the plug in kind for years and it worked great also,the nice thing about a cordless is while your on the water,no need to hook up a battery,pull it out of the nice carring case,fillet a few little perch for fishing,and put it away,I cleaned some wipers at the fish cleaning station,5 fish,5minutes,it also has two blade sizes but comes with the bigger blade,twelve inch I think,and like poncho said once you try them you wont go back,I use too fillet dozens of perch with a regular fillet knife and it would take an hour of cleaning fish,and you would always have to keep it sharp,I wont go back,try the cheaper plug in model first,You will love it.

Tight Lines

Tony[cool]
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[TubeDude]

[cool]I have never tried the rechargeable. But the modern technology on the super batteries and electric systems suggests that they may be a great option for a lot of applications. I'll have to put one of those on my list to Mrs. Claus, for Christmas. There are a lot of times I would rather be able to do some filleting at the cleaning stations, and avoid making a mess at home. If you have a modest number of fish, the rechargeable should be able to get the job done.

Totally agree with you and Poncho. I would feel sorely abused if forced to go back to filleting fish with regular blade knives. I still keep and use several different knives...for specialized skinning or boning. But, I prefer to be able to do both the slabbing and the skinning without having to put the fish or the knife down. Much faster and more efficient.

One word of advice to those who fillet and skin their fish before taking them home. Many states have laws that require you to leave at least a 1" piece of skin on the fillet to help identify the species if you are checked by a fisheries officer.

On the San Carlos Indian Reservation in Arizona, the tribe instituted the skin patch law. They soon began checking every vehicle leaving San Carlos Lake. Some careless crappie anglers suffered gear confiscations and huge fines when the tribal fisheries officers treated all crappie fillets as bass fillets and arrested fisherman for overlimits of bass. I heard about guys losing their boats, trucks and everything...simply because they didn't leave a patch of skin on their crappie fillets.
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