Wondered what the cooks in the group have found as their favorite fillet knife. (Brand, length of blade, etc.)  How about the best sharpening methods?

I have an old Chicago Cutlery 8" fillet knife.  It has a wider blade than most traditional fillet knives but still fairly flexible.  It also does not have much curve to the blade.  It has a wood handle which is not as slick as plastic when wet.  
I try and keep it sharp enough to shave the hair off the arm.  Best way to keep it that sharp..., keep it away from Mrs. fishinbuddy, she never steels the knives when she is done.
Good carbon steel, sharpens well and holds an edge and only needs to be touched up with a fine steel after each use.  
I used to work in a restuarant and have tried all sorts, never found one I like as well.  

I have a Gerber Muskie that I picked up at a local hardware store. It is about 11' long with a 6" blade, has a lightweight cast handle, and so far has worked great for me.

wrote on Mar 28^th, 2006 at 2:01pm:

I have a Gerber Muskie that I picked up at a local hardware store. It is about 11' long with a 6" blade, has a lightweight cast handle, and so far has worked great for me.

BrownTrout!

11 feet? Wow!!! I wanna catch fish with you!  :o ;D ;D ;D

Old reliable Rapala filet knife. I carry a very small sharpening stone about the size of a pencil. Keeps a very sharp edge.

The Beaver

wrote on Mar 28^th, 2006 at 2:47pm:

BrownTrout! 11 feet? Wow!!! I wanna catch fish with you!  :o ;D ;D ;D

Ooops.

Why yes, it doubles as a tarp pole and also a club before we boat the northerns!   :D :D

wrote on Mar 28^th, 2006 at 4:02pm:

Ooops. Why yes, it doubles as a tarp pole and also a club before we boat the northerns!   :D :D

Like I said! I want to fish with you! If you are catching fish that need an 11' club, that is where I want to be fishing!  :D ;)

Whatcha doin June 1st through the 12th? Maybe ya wanna show me how to fish?  ::)

I also use a Gerber fillet knife.  Mine is only 11" long, though, with a 6" blade.  It has a rubber-coated handle (or some synthetic version of rubber) so it's easy to keep a firm grasp on.  I like how well it holds a sharp edge for a long time with just a bit of touchup needed during the trip.

I did look at the 11' model, but elected not to get it because it would be such a pain to portage.  Would have made a nice bear-sticker in a pinch, I suppose.

I have and still use a Rapala fillet knife that is about 20 years old... the blade is getting a little thin at the end but, put it on a steel and it sharpens up quick and nice... ;D

Bruce

im with the beaver.   old reliable 6" rapala with a small stone along.

I have an old normark, lock back with wooden handle.  I like it a lot.  It has become one of those old friends.  It is probably as old as any gear I have.  It just feels right and I really like that it is a lock back.  Funny, I carry a fixed blade belt knife, but a lock back fillet knife, though the fillet knife stays in the tackle bag until needed.

As far as sharpening, I'm not sure what brand it is but it is a little plastic thing with ceramic "rods" in it.  You just draw the kinfe through a couple times.  That's what I have for trips.  At home I have an Arkansas Stone.

Rapala fillet knife.  6" blade.  Wouldn't leave home without it.  

bought a new fillet knife last year after using a old wood handle Rapala for years.
wanted a little stiffer blade and a little stickier grip.
found a nice one at AG Russell.
it's a CRKT Big Eddy 1 fillet knife.
has a little stiffer blade,serrations for cutting thru a backbone and a sticky grip.
about $18, seems to be well made.
for sharpener i carry 2, both DMT  folding diamond models.
light,use water or use dry and very fast sharpening.
one is fine for dressing fillet knife, other is extra-extra coarse for putting a quick edge on camp hatchet which always seems to "bite" the dirt one way or the other :-/ :-/.

wrote on Mar 28^th, 2006 at 7:29pm:

As far as sharpening, I'm not sure what brand it is but it is a little plastic thing with ceramic "rods" in it.  You just draw the kinfe through a couple times.

I have this same type of sharpening stone, which came with the knife - also Rapala brand. Its been a while, but I think I ruined the edge on my last knife with a similar stone. Now that my newer knife is showing wear, I'm sort of reluctant to run the knife through it. Any tips?

-YB

YB, I also messed up the edge on a couple of fillet knives with one of those quickie sharpeners. I've now been using a diamond stone that is shaped like a putty knife. It can be used knife-on-stone or stone-on-knife.
At the sport show I bought a very compact carbide sharpener that I have not fully tested yet. It brought back to sharpness some very abused pocket knives but I'm a little afraid to use it on my fillet knife. It seems to remove alot of material fast.

The ceramic Vs, I think, will maintain a good edge - much like a steel. Neither sharpens but the Vs in plastic work better for trips. I have one with two Vs, one corse one fine. The course works in a pinch if you abuse it but you'll need to bring the bevel back by other means.

Set the important part of any blade on your thumbnail, when it digs in, it's sharp enough. Once it sort-of catches, the Vs or a steel can bring back a decent edge. If it just slides right off, it needs to be sharpened.

I know a guy who would fillet a hundred fish a day at various sport shows to sell his videos. To hear him tell it, and I believe it, a ballpoint pen is plenty sharp enough when you know what you're doing. ;)

Mine is a a little stiff for my liking but it folds.

I have never used the ceramics although a lot of people I know use them...  I have a good Arkansas Stone and a good steel, which took some learning to use effectively.  
I always sharpen my knives before I go into the wilderness, and do not carry a sharpening device with me.  I have never had a problem with a dull knife while camping or cleaning fish.  
My old wooden handled Rapala is a 9" I believe and is still easy to sharpen...  it cleaned a nice bunch of crappie last week as a matter of fact ;D

Bruce  

i've been waiting for a chance to tell this story!!
it's a little off topic but it's damn funny ;D ;D!!
db's comment about checking the sharpness  of a knife using your thumbnail was the way my late dad taught me. he was a machine repair man and a old farm boy. to him a knife was either sharp or it was worthless!! sharp being shaving sharp!!
years back i used to backpack with 3 other guy's. we were on Isle Royal for are 1st of 3 trips there.
my friends were the type that brought as little as possible because they knew I would have what i needed!!
anyway we all carried freeze dried in those day's and the early bags could be hard to open so i was easier to use a knife to slit the top pryor to rehydrating.
i had a folding hunter type that my dad had put a edge on.
my friend as usual didn't have a knife, so he asked" Anyone have a sharp knife??". i replied i did and tossed it to him, and went back to fixing my meal.
Suddenly, i hear a scream, a bunch of cursing and i look over to see my friend holding his thumb and blood squirting everywere!!!
i went to see what happen and he start's yelling that it's my fault he cut himself??
perplexed, i asked  him how he figured that??
i said i told you it was sharp!!
he replied" not THAT sharp!!!
turned out, to test it's SHARPNESS, he took his thumb and ran it down the blade!!!
cut it to the bone!!!
we manages to get it bandaged up(my first-aid kit) and we finished the trip.
for 6 day's i had to listen to him whining about the SHARP knife!!!
to this day he brings that up ;D ;D ;D!!
i told my dad about it when i got home, he just shook his head and in that old school farm boy way said" what part of sharp, didn't he understand" ;) ;) ;)!!!

For many years I used a folding plastic handled Rapala fillet knife.  About 10 years ago I bought a Don Canney Leech Lake knife and I now use this exclusively.  This knife has a 7" blade that is sharpened on the last 5" of the backside.  The reason for this is that you use the back-side for cutting areas that may have knife-dulling bones, and then use the long side for filleting out the meat.  I fillet a lot of perch in the winter so this makes a difference to me.

As for sharpening, I tried all sorts of stones, sticks, and plastic fixed position type things and never really had good success.  Perhaps it's a question of skill, but I could never seem to pick it up.  An uncle of mine in Sweden showed me a Lansky system and now I use it for all my knives.  It was easy to learn and does a very good job.

LOVE my Wustoff fillet knife.  I think it has about a 9 1/2 inch blade.  Still bring a Rapala too for backup.

Lakota Fishhawk

flexible tip with the right amount of backbone

I use a folding Buck fillet knife. The blade locks in place when open. It's great for packing and safer than a fix blade. I believe it has a 10'' blade. They discontinued the 10' blade ;D.

just curious.....why do you think that a knife with a folding blade (albeit locking) is safer than a knife with its blade fixed permanently in its handle?