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Sure could have used a Spyderco filet knife today. (Pics)

Surfingringo

Surfingringo

Joined
May 25, 2013
Messages
3,700
Man, the Snapper bite has been ON this week! Had six fish in the kayak by 7:30 this morning. This was the best of them.
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Of all the fish I catch, Snapper are probably the biggest PITA to clean. A lot of the reason for that is I really don't have a decent filet knife. I've got a cheapie with a 6" blade and a terrible handle. It just wasn't meant to handle fish like this. I do a lot of the rough work with a smaller stiffer knife like my pacific salt (and soon my southfork will hopefully take over that role) but for actually removing the filets and then removing the skin from the filets, I need a good 8-9" filet knife. I would love to see Sal and company come out with something as I have no doubt that it would be well designed and functional. For now I'm just gonna grab another cheapie with a longer blade.

Here's me with that poor 6" filet knife in past the handle trying to cut a filet off this guy. :rolleyes: the job got done just fine, it just would have been a lot quicker and easier with the right tool. I had already done the dirty work with my salts and you can see the trusty pacific salt in the foreground.
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Nice catch. :thumbup:

Yep a Spyderco Fillet knife would have come in really handy. :)
 
Good thing you are not in Florida waters. Our illustrious state has put a ban on Snapper fishing. Wish I were there!
 
your fishing pics are fantastic. I have a vacation house in Encinitas CA, and i need to start kayak fishing. You are inspiring me.
 
Can't even imagine throwing those on to a kayak :eek:
 
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I am a big fan of the Spyderco Catcherman>> for you all newcomers it's Spyderco's long time discontinued folding fillet knife model # C-17. Being a big fan of the Catcherman and I have 6 of them and 2 of them are the green handled H-1 Sprint versions of about 3 years ago.

I remember when Cold Steel had 3 fixed blade fillet knives of different sizes and they sold really well from what one of their distributors told me.

I bet if Spyderco would introduce 2 different sized fixed blade fillet knives in the H-1 Salt Series they would sell tons of them. I would like to see them also be offered in plain edge and Spyderedge.

Because Brother with the super sized fish you're catching you need serious cutlery to tackle those big boys. Now until Spyderco does put out a real super fillet knife then I would recommend to you to check out "Knives Of Alaska" and their line up of fillet knives. It's not often that I recommend someone other than Spyderco's great blades but at this time I don't think that the Great Spyder Factory has anything to offer you in the fixed blade fillet knife sector.

A friend of mine has 2 fillet knives made by Knives Of Alaska and I'm impressed with them. I forget what blade steel they are made with but my buddy told me that they are cryo-quenched and the one of his I used was truly a custom quality blade.

I'm extremely envious of your great catches my friend>> because Red Snapper is truly one of my very favorite fish to eat. In the salt water category Red Snapper and Swordfish steaks are my very favorite fish to eat>> and you can add halibut to that short list as well. My envy meter is going crazy.

We need to really petition Spyderco to get some great fixed blade fillet knives on the market. However I would settle for a larger Catcherman in either H-1 or MBS-26
 
Hey JD, I would second your thoughts with one exception. I would prefer a filet knife to be in a steel other than h1. Plain edge h1 simply doesn't have the edge retention or wear resistance required to make a good filet knife IMHO. I'm no steel expert but I'm sure there are some fine steel choices with all the "super steels" that spyderco works with today. Corrosion is not an issue for me at all in a fixed blade filet knife so I would much rather have something with better edge retention than h1.
 
Why not use your H1 Dragonfly? :D

Seriously, I think any decent steel that is sharpened properly would work. I picked up an opinel folding fillet knife that I keep in the drawer. I mistakenly bought the bigger of the two sizes and it's a bit too long for the fish we have around here (bass, crappies, walleye, trout, etc.). The smaller version would work better for me, but maybe look into the longer one for yourself. It cuts like a laser and is easy to sharpen, although with the blade being so long I'm never in danger of getting guts in the folding area. Don't know how that would be for you.

Just a thought until Spyderco comes up with something .

John
 
Surfingringo said:
Hey JD, I would second your thoughts with one exception. I would prefer a filet knife to be in a steel other than h1. Plain edge h1 simply doesn't have the edge retention or wear resistance required to make a good filet knife IMHO. I'm no steel expert but I'm sure there are some fine steel choices with all the "super steels" that spyderco works with today. Corrosion is not an issue for me at all in a fixed blade filet knife so I would much rather have something with better edge retention than h1.
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From what Sal posted over in their forum the fillet knives will likely be AUS-8 and that would be fine since they will be made over in Japan and AUS-8 is very strong and will hold an edge for a good amount of time.
 
Gringo,
I hear there is (ahem) a man named Phil Wilson who knows a thing or two about the subject.
Just saying...
Great pics of your catch.
Cheers..
 
Ray Allen said:
Gringo,
I hear there is (ahem) a man named Phil Wilson who knows a thing or two about the subject.
Just saying...
Great pics of your catch.
Cheers..
Click to expand...

Southfork is on it's way as I type this. Can't afford a custom for the moment but yes, I would love to have one of his filet knives!
 
Ankerson said:
From what Sal posted over in their forum the fillet knives will likely be AUS-8 and that would be fine since they will be made over in Japan and AUS-8 is very strong and will hold an edge for a good amount of time.
Click to expand...

I somehow missed that! I'll do a search over there.
 
Surfingringo said:
Southfork is on it's way as I type this. Can't afford a custom for the moment but yes, I would love to have one of his filet knives!
Click to expand...
Gringo,
I very much look forward to hearing your views on the Southfork used as a filet knife and as a all purpose knife in general. I have been toying for some time now with the idea of getting one, only to have one after another folder sing a sirens song to me.
Cheers...
 
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