filet knives

For filleting, I prefer fillet knives which have a curved blade to knives which have a pretty straight blade. I feel that a curved blade does a better job of slicing through meat as I draw it along rib bones. When using a straight edged knife, I feel like I'm dragging the very tip of the blade through the meat, rather than slicing the meat with the edge of the blade. I have a bunch of fillet knives, but my favorite fillet knife is a Mustad knife which is available for $8.00 from Walmart.  https://www.walmart.com/ip/KVD-Mustad-6-German-Stainless-Steel-Fillet-Knife/23704232  I prefer that knife because of its curved blade.  I also have a big breaking knife which I like for processing big fish because of its curved blade. 

When processing fish, I like to use two knives: a fillet knife, which I use only when separating meat from bones, and a second knife which I use when cutting down against a cutting board, in order to preserve the sharp edge on my fillet knife.

But I keep both of those knives very sharp.  When I get home, I'll post pictures of a jig I made to sharpen kitchen knives with diamond hones.  This jig creates a very flat and accurate bevel.  When I get a new knife, it takes a while to establish that flat bevel, but once the bevel has been established, the jig allows me to quickly re-sharpen my knives with a very keen edge.

For filleting, I prefer fillet knives which have a curved blade to knives which have a pretty straight blade. I feel that a curved blade does a better job of slicing through meat as I draw it along rib bones. When using a straight edged knife, I feel like I'm dragging the very tip of the blade through the meat, rather than slicing the meat with the edge of the blade. I have a bunch of fillet knives, but my favorite fillet knife is a Mustad knife which is available for $8.00 from Walmart.  https://www.walmart.com/ip/KVD-Mustad-6-German-Stainless-Steel-Fillet-Knife/23704232  I prefer that knife because of its curved blade.  I also have a big breaking knife which I like for processing big fish because of its curved blade. 

When processing fish, I like to use two knives: a fillet knife, which I use only when separating meat from bones, and a second knife which I use when cutting down against a cutting board, in order to preserve the sharp edge on my fillet knife.

But I keep both of those knives very sharp.  When I get home, I'll post pictures of a jig I made to sharpen kitchen knives with diamond hones.  This jig creates a very flat and accurate bevel.  When I get a new knife, it takes a while to establish that flat bevel, but once the bevel has been established, the jig allows me to quickly re-sharpen my knives with a very keen edge.

Looking forward to those photos!

When I get home, I'll post pictures of a jig I made to sharpen kitchen knives with diamond hones.  This jig creates a very flat and accurate bevel.  When I get a new knife, it takes a while to establish that flat bevel, but once the bevel has been established, the jig allows me to quickly re-sharpen my knives with a very keen edge.

Looking forward to those photos!

Here are pictures of my knife sharpening jig, which uses Lansky or DMT diamond hones. The jig allows me to keep the hone at right angles to the edge of the blade of a long kitchen or fillet knife, and puts a bevel of about 22 degrees on the edges of a knife.  I've used this jig for many years, and am working on an upgraded version of it which has better jaws and allows adjustment of the distance between the jaws for different lengths of knives.

I check the sharpness of my knives by running the edge of the knife along my thumbnail.  The knife should cut in easily and slide along smoothly, with no rough spots.  I learned this method of checking the sharpness of tools when working as a violin restorer, where I spent a lot of time every day sharpening my tools.

Wow that looks really sharp! 

Victorinox 8" breaking knife $30-ish.  Best fillet knife hands down.

This particular style of three rod holder will hold a Rapala Salt Water Filet knife. The plastic sheath is ventilated, and it catches on the little -plastic tabs on the rod holder accessory slots on the bottom tier. I didn't design it that way but it works great!

Cool! What brand is the rod holder, Sea Dog or SeaSense, or?

Cool! What brand is the rod holder, Sea Dog or SeaSense, or?

I have a white one, for the rock fish box. Not sure, I think I got it at Hi's or West Marine a few years ago. I have a black one, I use on my Salmon box it is from Berkley, it has no holes, I had to make my own. It is project under way, but it will have pretty much what the white one does but in black, so I can tell what goes where.