Whether you’re headed to water or woods this fall for fins, fur or feathers, be sure to pack a rapala fillet knife. “One of those goes in my field bag wherever I go, whether I’m fishing, deer hunting, or grouse hunting, says ICE FORCE Pro-Staffer Joel Nelson. “A combination of strength, flexibility and finesse make Rapala knives perfect for both filleting fish and deboning and butchering game.”
While traditional hunting knives work well for quartering deer and other heavy-duty tasks, they can be too stiff and bulky for most butchering beyond field dressing.
“I find it easier to do most everything with a Rapala fillet knife because they’re not big, bulky and gaudy and hard to handle in tight spots,” Nelson says. “But they’re not too thin and whippy, either. They’re sturdy at the base.”
When deer hunting, Nelson packs three Rapala knives: a 6-inch Soft Grip Fillet, a 4-inch Fish’N Fillet, and a 7 ½ inch Soft Grip Fillet. The 6-inch Soft Grip is his “all-purpose work horse,” he says, while the 7 ½ inch model is “a good all-around deboning knife.” He uses the 4-inch, wood-handled, Marttiini made, Fish-N-Fillet for “really fine detail work,” like caping out a deer. “Taking the hide off back up towards the head requires really delicate work around the eyes,” Nelson explains. “If you’re going to take a trophy to a taxidermist, you have to have a knife that will do that fine detail work. And even if you have the taxidermist do that part, it’s great for any fine-detail cutting around the deer.”
For deboning deer quarters and removing silverskin, Nelson unsheathes his 7 ½-inch Soft Grip Fillet.
“Once deer have been quartered off of the carcass with your standard hunting knife, I use that 7 ½ inch Soft Grip to take all the meat off the bone to take in for trim, to grind into burger or sausage,” he says. “It’s got the combination of the flexibility you need for fine detail work – like cutting away the fat, gristle and silverskin you don’t want in your meat – and also strong enough at the base to cut through harder parts near the bone. It’ll stand up to that stuff on a deer, no problem.”
Removing silverskin from muscle, Nelson notes, is very similar to separating skin from a walleye fillet. “You have to lay the blade down flat and use the flex in it,” he explains. “You can’t use a hunting knife for that. And you can’t use a little whippy knife either. You need that Rapala combination of strength at the base with flexibility and finesse.”
When hunting turkey and grouse, Nelson carries the 6-inch Soft Grip.
“You need to cut off heads and cut through vertebrae and legs, but there’s delicate work too,” he says. “Because you don’t want to hack up the rest of the carcass. You need the skin intact so the bird doesn’t dry out when it cooks.”
Another feature that makes Rapala fillet knives great for fieldwork is their ability to both take and hold an edge.
“When you’re cutting into bone and you’re hacking away at the harder parts of muscle groups, eventually any knife’s going to get dull,” Nelson explains. “But a Rapala blade, give it a few swipes through the sharpener that comes with it, and its back to fresh-out-of-the-package sharpness.”
Traditional, heavy-duty hunting knives “have a more tricky bevel,” Nelson says. “You have to take that to get professionally sharpened, or use something like a whetstone. The Rapala knives are nice because it’s quick and easy to sharpen them right there in the field.”
If you’ll be targeting bucks and birds this fall before getting back to chasing pike, perch and ‘eyes on the ice, don’t put away your fillet knives when you stow your open-water long rods. Like Nelson, be sure to always carry a Rapala knife in your field pack.