Anyone recommend a good quality fillet knife for the (very) odd occasion i take a wild trout ?

A couple of fillets done covered in bread crumbs, with new potatoes rolled in bread crumbs, chopped shallots and a squeeze of lemon is THE way to do them justice.

The thing i use at present is a bit brutal, could do with a suggestion to add to the letter i'm preparing for Santa.

Cheers

I got one of these and I am very happy with it

http://www.sportfish.co.uk/product/r...-fillet-knives

Dave

It really depends how much you use one, a stainless knife once its lost its edge is very hard to sharpen , a high carbon blade will sharpen quite easily , however there is a big difference in prices.

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its not how you tie your flies , its how you tease your flies

Try the Global bendy fillet knife. Expensive, but takes a good edge and nice to use.

hi marmalade
were can you get the global bendy fillet knife.
been after a good knife for ages, i can get a forever sharp but they only come in three different sizes.?

The global knives are good,only buy genuine the ones sold in pubs ect are very poof copies and blunt unbeleivably fast,the lads usually come into the kitchen and show them off ,I just laugh.
For a reasonably priced filleting knife your bigger sainsbury/tesco/waitrose own brand 6" blades are good for domestic work with one proviso you also buy a decent SS steel and touch them up before every use.
When working I use good german and french knives and lend to no one.
At home we use supermarket ones as above because herself and the boy dont look after them ,however the good steel sorts that out .
Last night boned a duck ,and sliced a stirfry with my 5 year old sainsbury one and it was fine.
Good for the rare odd time that I fillet fish !
Have to mention I was an apprentice chef late sixtys and still do a little cook training !

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Andy Wren
Winter grayling taking a year off !
Claret not just a great dubbing colour!

I have been using a Gerber filleting knife for years now and find it excellent value and razor sharp it has a sharpener built in to its sheath you can purchase them from John norris for £11.99

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Silversedge
LETS TACKLE CANCER SUPPORTER
"MON THE HILL CLIMBERS!!"

Waitrose do the Globals.. Or there are many internet places. You'll need a new edge every 6-12 months, depending on how much use it gets. In between keep it sharp with a strop (or a leather belt).

If it's an old leather belt, rub some autosol into it first.

If you want to get very nerdy, look at some of the handmade Japanese knives at japaneseknifecompany.com - the Kai Damascus knives are very good and very pretty and very pricey. They do a filleting blade.

Trouble is you then need a pair of water stones to sharpen them on (medium and fine grit), a stone to flatten the stones although you can still use your belt and autosol to polish. :-)

Thanks for the replies.

PPS

Rapala fillet knives are actually made by the Finnish Marttinni knife maker and I've found them to be great knives for a pretty modest price. I also like the fact that they have rubber handles which unlike wooden ones, won't crack after repeated washings and provide an excellent grip.

I'm not keen on non-stainless blades for fillet knives because a fillet knife is always getting wet and I keep my knives in my tackle bags so I'd worry about rust becoming an issue with non-stainless knives.

On the subject of how sharp a fillet knife should be, here's my opinion. Everyone talks about getting a knife "razor sharp" but with fillet knives, I think this is a bad idea and not desirable.

I like my knife just plain sharp, but if it's too sharp I've found it slices too easily through the backbone when filleting and that wastes a lot of time because then you have to back the knife out and try to resume the cut. A properly sharpened fillet knife IMO should slide easily down the backbone taking out the ribs, but shouldn't be so sharp that it makes it too easy to accidentally slice the backbone itself.

Grouse