what fillet knife should I get?

Satisfaction guranteed I have used it for years and years and was never disappointed

Those rapala knifes from CTS unforunately dont hold edge too long. I have to retouch mine after 2 - 3 fish. Looking for something better myself. For comparion, got a couple of kitchen knifes in Spain a few years ago , use them a lot and dont need to re touch the blades yet. Damascus steel vs chinese:-)

I've used a Solignen knife made with German steel for over 30 years. It's my favourite knife out of at least 7 or 8 others I own. It holds a razor sharp edge much longer than the Rapala knives. Sharpening your knife is very important. I just use a sharpening stone, but, you have to use a good quality stone as well. I also own a Lansky but prefer the stone. I find when using the rapalas you need to be sharpening them more often. I have rapalas from 40 years ago when they were made in Sweden & my Solignen is still a better knife.

I use a Schrade 8" for all my salmon n trout species...great tip,flexible,stays extremely sharp with mineable honing. As for cleaning panfish I prefer using a 6" Gerber. I own many fillet knives,but by far these two are my go to's. As with all knives stroking on a good sharpener occasionally while cleaning your catch will enhance the cleaning process. Good fishing.........!!!

I use the sharpener which usually comes in the package. It works great, even good for sharpening ordinary kitchen knifes.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dnAbWpW6R74

Seems to be two different quality of rapala's knifes"The Finland knifes ( mine made in Estonia go figure) are good I just replaced a 4" and am very happy with it. The red sharpener is ok for touch up but a true resharpening use a stone.

look into some Japanese fillet knives, they work good with larger species. I do my laker with mine. Other species I use a 7" Zwilling JA Henckels Pro.

I really appeciate everyone's input on this matter.
@Madfrog, I was looking at the Masahiro 9.5 in. (240mm) Fish Fillet Knife. The only thing that's holding me back is the way japanese knives are sharpened. I don't want to spend $300 on a whetstone set. Can you sharpen japanese knives with a sharpening stone? For the guys that use a sharpening stone, what stone would you suggest?

Good quality steel will stay sharp for a long time, mine is carbon steel which is even better, the downside is it will rust if you forget to wipe it dry after every use.

For example, S30v and vg10 are very high quality steel

The knife shop I use will sharpen your knife for $$ depending on blade size, mine is 8" they ask for $12. First sharpening is free if you buy the knife there.

Zwilling offers free lifetime sharpening on their knives, they are located in Markham I believe.

Typically knife blade is not "v" shape , it has a secondary edge so I won't sharpen mine at home, I'd rather let a pro do it for me

Cutco will re sharpen any of their knives for free. You just have to pay the shipping costs which are quite reasonable. Unless you abuse them re sharpening is only required once a year even in high usage scenarios.

you can sharpen the knife with sharpening system like lansky and hone it with a leather strop.Those Japanese fish knifes make a great job in cutting fish steaks but honesly fileting with them is like fileting with an axe. I got a carbon steel Deba and it is like an axe

And I send them back 2 every fall

Scary sharp

I also touch up my Solignen a couple of times during the cleaning process of say 30 or 40 perch on the fine side of the wetstone.

I've used the rapala soft grip (rubberized black handle) or the Finland (rapala) birch handle for years by far one of the best knives you could buy along with a medium/fine whetstone from Canadian tire. Depending on the size of fish 20" an smaller cut the rib bones if that's how you fillet you fish with your fillet knife, but if you are doing large species such as pike, lakers, salmon have another fixed blade knive there to cut the pin bones and ribs.

When I fillet my smaller fish I take the whole side off then debone it but on larger fish I'll cut the pin bones then follow the ribs around. I've been filleting fish since I was 14 years old I spent 14 years operating a hatchery where I likely filleted over 400 fish a year plus my personal catches an I likely only ever went through 3 of these fillet knives.

I've switched to an electric knife from walmart. Can't say enough about how easy it is to fillet fish. I just can't believe it took me this long to figure it out!!!