The 5 Best Fish Fillet Knives, According to My Tests

My Favorite Fish Fillet Knife

Fish fillet knives should be sharp, durable, and easy to hold without slipping, My tests showed that a flexible blade is a big advantage. My top pick is the Victorinox 8-Inch Flexible Fillet Knife, which has precision sharpness and the optimal design at a reasonable price. If you're looking for a unique heirloom or generous gift for the seafood lover, try the New West KnifeWorks 7-Inch Fillet Knife, which is eye-catching and effective.

How I Tested Fish Fillet Knives

Based on the results of previous tests in multiple knife categories, we chose 12 fish fillet knives to compare head-to-head. I examined each fish fillet knife and noted its weight, balance, and overall design, then performed a series of specific tests.

• Paper test: I used each knife to slice through a standard 8.5-by-11-inch sheet of paper, held lengthwise. This gauged pure sharpness measured by whether the blade could get through the full sheet in one slice, and how little effort was needed to cut the paper cleanly.
• Fish test: I filleted one side of a whole fish (I used perch in my tests) with each knife, noting how nimbly the knife dealt with bones, and whether I could remove the full fillet efficiently and in one piece. I also attempted to skin the fillets, rating the ability of each knife to cut between skin and meat without damaging either.
• Cleaning test: After the fish test, I hand-washed all the knives with a sponge and dish soap. I noted whether the handles held on to grease or food bits and required scrubbing and if any the blades started to rust or corrode on first washing.

After completing my other tests, I noted the fish fillet knives' retail prices to consider value for money. The 12 fish fillet knives ranged from $18 to $310, with an average of $99.

Factors to Consider

Blade Material

Almost all knives — and all the fish fillet models I tested for this story — have blades made of steel. But there are a lot of different kinds of steel, each made from a slightly different mix of carbon, iron, and other elements. Traditionally, the highest-quality knives are made from carbon steel, which has a high proportion of carbon. These hard steels can hold a sharp edge, but they're expensive to process, susceptible to rust, and prone to chipping. Stainless steel adds chromium to the mix, making a shiny material that's less likely to corrode but is also softer and needs sharpening more often.

If you plan to take your fillet knife fishing, you'll want stainless to protect from corrosion, especially if salt water is involved. "Carbon steel" and "stainless steel" describe a range of materials: Every knife brand has a different type of steel and production process, sometimes using multiple layers of different compositions or hybrid types of stainless steel made to be more durable.

Blade Flexibility

A long, narrow blade is best for filleting a fish: This shape makes it easiest to work carefully around tiny, near-invisible bones without damaging the meat. Many fish fillet knives go a step further, with a blade so narrow it can bend. In my tests, I found that flexible blades almost always outperform stiff ones with the delicate task of filleting fish. You can use the springy bend to pull the meat away from the bones at the same time that you slice. Flexible blades also tend to be narrower and make a cleaner slice.

Handle Design

A secure grip on your knife is important, but working with whole fish can be especially slippery. You're likely to have wet hands and to be turning the blade with your wrist as you work. Plastic or silicone handles sometimes have a pebbled or crosshatch pattern to keep them from twisting in your hand, even when wet. Finished wood and resin are often perfectly smooth, an advantage for washing but more of a slipping hazard. But texture and shape both come into play for grip: A perfectly round handle is comfortable to hold but can rotate freely in your hand, while a rectangular, oblong, or asymmetrical one cannot.

Other Fish Fillet Knives I Tested

Strong Contenders

Bubba Interchangeable Blade System ($140 at Cabela's)

Very much a tool for fishing and hunting, this clever set has four different blades that pop in and out of the same handle so you can do big or small tasks. The blades fit securely and swapped smoothly in testing, but neither the stiff nor flexible one I tested was super-sharp, and the whole carrying case situation isn't very kitchen-friendly.

Zwilling J.A. Henckels Four Star Fillet Knife ($90 at Amazon)

This fish fillet knife did the best job removing skin from a fillet, which was tough with the thin-skinned perch I used in testing. But it's not flexible, which is a big disadvantage with whole fish, and the rounded handle felt slippery even when dry.

Shun Classic Gokujo Knife ($175 at Amazon)

The gokujo is a hybrid fish fillet/boning knife, with a short blade and sharp point for dexterity but a little more heft than a traditional fillet knife. It has the same sharpness and high-quality handle as the flexible Shun above, but it was less successful in testing at slicing off a clean fillet. I found the lack of flexibility and the larger blade size disadvantages.

Rapala Fish'n Fillet Knife ($38 at Amazon)

This compact and portable fish fillet knife is a solid value for its price. The small size makes it quite nimble, though it's not as sharp as I would have liked. I had trouble making it through the skin to start filleting in my tests. The handle is also too short to hold very comfortably.

What Didn't Make the List

The fish fillet knives at the bottom of my ranking were simply unsuccessful in the test, failing to remove a full fillet in one piece. For two knives, this was just due to a lack of sharpness and needing to saw back and forth to cut effectively. And for a Wüsthof — a brand whose knives typically perform very well — the problem wasn't dullness but bulk; it was significantly heavier than the other fish fillet knives and offered less precise control.

Our Expertise

• Food & Wine senior writer and knife expert Jason Horn updated the story with data from his home testing of 12 fish fillet knives. With culinary and journalism degrees and nearly 20 years of writing experience, he's covered food and drinks from just about every angle. His most recent knife test before this one examined brisket slicers.
• The original author of this piece, Adria Greenhauff, is a journalist specializing in food and dining content, with bylines on Allrecipes, Better Homes & Gardens, and Southern Living. She researched the category extensively and interviewed Sarah Blair for her expert input.