The Recreational Boating & Fishing Foundation’s National Fishing and Boating Week is coming up June 2-10, 2012. This national celebration, which occurs annually on the first full week of June, coincides with the free fishing days in most states. This is the perfect time to update your tackle box with must-have fishing gear. (more…)
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Seasoned fishermen know how important it is to get the right tools for the job at hand. They know that you need the right hooks to catch specific fish in the waters you are fishing, you need the right line to reel them in, and you need the right knives for cleaning the catch when the day is done.
Using a hunting knife to clean your fish is going to be a messy and frustrating process that will cost you portions of the fish meat and ultimately less to bring home and brag about. With the correct utensil and a little know-how you can clean a fish neatly.
You have landed that sizable fish and now it is time to fillet it. Oh, wait, you mean you are going to try and fillet that fish with that standard pocket knife are you? Hmm. What a shame. You could have carried a fillet knife. Yes, such a creature does exist! And it is a good thing that reliable stainless steel fishing fillet knives are on the market because they are designed specifically for the purpose of cleanly filleting a fish with ease. There is nothing worse that attempting to fillet a fish with a knife whose blade is clearly not designed for filleting. Using an improper knife usually results is ugly, jagged cuts that turn a clean fillet into a butcher job. Yet, this is what many people do because they do not realize there are knives designed specifically for this purpose. As such, using a fillet knife is the far better option and is highly advised.
Good fillet knives are typically made of stainless steel and are very thin to cleanly slip through the delicate flesh and skin of a fish. The blades will range in length so get a couple of different lengths depending on the size of fish you typically are seeking out (large river salmon will need a longer blade than a smaller lake trout). Get a folding fillet knife if you feel this would help you carry it safely. Most other fillet knives are fixed blades so make sure it comes with a sturdy sheath for safety and to maintain the knives sharpness.
When it comes to fishing equipment the common items that come to people’s mind are usually rods, reels and tackle. Sometimes, however, people are shortsighted when it comes to the value of fishing knives. After all, you simply can not pull a steak knife out of a drawer throw it in a tackle box. Well, you could, but it would be a real bad idea!
If you are going fishing you are going to need a reliable knife that serves the necessary purposes it is intended. More than anything, you are going to need a sharp, stainless steel blade that can easily cut through fishing line as well as fillet a fish with ease. It also is important to note that you will need “knives” and not a “knife” because not every blade is appropriate for each fish. In fact, you will need a blade that is appropriate for the size of the fish. As such, it is best to maintain a variety in the fishing knives you own so as to maximize efficiency when fishing.
