My favorite homemade Halibut knife finally gave up the ghost. An old time millwright made and gave it to me decades ago. Built from an old wore out bandsaw blade in a long gone re-saw mill. The right thickness and flex to the blade and fit my hand perfectly. Everything else gets filleted with a Gerber coho fillet knife. What is your favorite fillet knife. Pictures are good especially if it’s a homemade version. Owl
Nothing fancy here. I have three sizes of plain old wood handled Rapala fillet knives. The 9” model for fish up 40”; the 6” for fish up to 24”; and the 4” for panfish. I fillet hundreds of fish a year and these knifes are what I have gotten used to and prefer over a few others I have tried. They are flexible and sharpen up real well. I have never filleted a halibut so not sure if they would be applicable for you.
Nothing fancy here either. Just a commercial grade Dexter Russel with a plastic handle I have had for years. It doesn't get much use. Not a lot of free time lately to fish so most of mine comes from the local fish market.
I bought my brother a Havalon knife. He uses it to clean/filet small pollack. He's been very pleased with it. Replaceable blade skinning knives and hunting knives by Havalon Knives. Baracuta-Blaze
A Rada is my go-to except for salmon, then I use the Buck. Great Lakes salmon have thinner skins and the Rada cuts right through it.
I almost exclusively catfish anymore, when I did catch other species I would use a rapala knife. Now , I go spend 15 bucks on a turkey carving electric knife. Works 100x better and last longer than any other I have ever used. Can clean a cat daddy in about 20 seconds.
Use 4 basic knives. For large ling cod and halibut I use an old magnum fillet #2025, 9in that my brother found diving. I put new scales of rosewood on it and made a wooden sheath. Takes a great edge. Next is a Rapala 7.5in for lings and salmon. Rapala's are good all around knives of consistent quality and at moderate prices. Uncle Henry 7in that would be my only knife if I had to choose. Great flex, edge and edge holding. Feels nimble in the hand. Last, a 4in Rapala for starting cuts and small fish. I also have a host of cheap knives for in the boat where one might go overboard. I keep them all very sharp!
spotted owl , I have some band saw blade (probably L6 alloy) and would be glad to let you have a piece or cut you out several blanks if you have an idea of shape and want to try to make your own. We seem to be neighbors of sorts!
Wow, that’s super cool. I sure appreciate that offer. I’d be skittish of ruining the blank. This is an area I am completely inexperienced in, do you have a book or tutorial of sorts that you’d recommend? Owl
I know I'll catch flack for this one but my now late fishing partner bought me a lithium battery Rapala knife for my birthday a few years ago. Sorry fellas, I appreciate a good filet knife, but I've gone to the dark side after using this one.
Here is a tutorial for an exceptional knife but it explains the stock removal method. . With ready made blanks you remove very little material. all you really need as far as tools is an angle grinder with sanding flap wheels and a Dremel tool with sanding cylinders. This tutorial looks far more intimidating than the process really is. There are many more videos out there that will teach you to make a perfectly serviceable knife with just a few tools. Again, most of the crude work is done with a ready made blank. There are also sites on the internet that sell completely finished and treated blades minus the scales. One is Jantz Knife Making Supply. Jantz Catalog . Actually some pretty good steel in these blades!
